


One Good Deed

by Muted_Badger



Category: The Loud House (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2020-10-05 02:28:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 61,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20481359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muted_Badger/pseuds/Muted_Badger
Summary: After escaping from his "adoptive" father, Lincoln has been living on the streets for the last two years. He spent all that time by himself in the silence, that was until he made one decision to save a random girl in a random alley. He didn't realise how loud his life was about to get.





	1. One Good Deed

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys, it's MutedBadger here!
> 
> This story has already been posted on FF.net but I thought I might post it for people on AO3 who don't venture to that site to read.
> 
> This is my first fanfiction (or anything) that I have ever written, so please be kind.
> 
> There is not much more to it, so I hope you enjoy!

It started off like any other day, living on the streets, waking up in the run-down house that has been abandoned for years, a biting breeze drifting through the many cracks of the broken window carrying with it the sound of the hustle and bustle of the city.

Cracking my eyes open, I let them focus on the same four walls that I see almost every day. The same walls that have stripped green paint so that it reveals the bricks underneath.

Getting up, I feel each kink in my back crack releasing the strain of sleeping on the hard cold ground. Stumbling to my feet I begin to search the room for any spare food I may have leftover from yesterday's lunch.

Looking in the opposite corner from my bed, I find a half-filled can of beans that looks to be around a couple of days old, but I guess it will have to do.

While I begin to nibble at my meal, I set in motion planning my day.

First I need to head out and scout the city for new scavenging areas as the ones I usually use have started to attract unwanted attention from some unsavory people. I then need to head to the more touristy area in town and start to relieve some tourists of their money.

I know, I know stealing is not all that good, and every time I do it I feel terribly guilty, but a guy got to do what he needs to survive. It doesn't help that I'm naturally gifted at pickpocketing, being unusually tiny and malnourished for my age made me nimble and fast, making it easy for me to make a hasty retreat if anything goes wrong.

It seems like a pretty packed day, I think to myself while finishing the meager food that I had.

I decide that if I want to get all the things I needed to get done today completed, I should probably get going soon.

Grabbing my bag, I make my way to a window in the next room over, being careful to avoid any loose floorboards, not wanting to fall through them.

Reaching the window, I slowly start to climb out avoiding any glass shards that still cling onto the window frame. Outside of the window, I plant my feet down onto a beam that balances over to the building across from my one.

You see, the stairs in my house are destroyed, and while you might think that is inconvenient, it actually provides a great defense barrier to any unwanted guests.

Once across, I make my way through the other house and out of its back door.

Taking one look at the morning sky, I inhale a deep breath of cold air before I start to make my way into the city.

* * *

Once I arrive at the outskirts of the city, I notice that there are a lot more people than I usually see walking around.

Oh shit, I totally forgot about the event that is taking place in Royal Woods this weekend. From what I could gather by eavesdropping on people, there is some kind of rock show that is happening with some up and coming rock girl from the suburbs of Royal Woods being the headline of the event.

Well, It looks like there will more people for me to borrow some items from.

Getting back on track, I put my plan into action. In the more built-up part of town, there are these large restaurants that order so much food that they never use it all, leading them to throw most of their food out.

I didn't want to go scavenge there but my usual food spot has started to run out and people have also started to notice it, so desperate times call for desperate measures.

Another reason why I haven't been there before is the amount of danger that lurks around the place, the amount of food present attracts all kind of weird and dangerous people, so I would have to be on my guard.

That's why I'm bringing my bag with me, which had an assortment of weaponry inside that I 'collected' over the years to be used in case of an emergency. Other than that, I have a few tricks up my sleeves to make sure that I can come out on top in most fights.

The further I got into the city the more I realized just how far away the restaurants are, judging by how long it will take me to get there, I may have to skip pickpocketing today. This means that I'm going to have to stuff my backpack with enough food to last me the week, so I do not have to do this trip every day.

Making my way through the back alleys, I try to make myself blend into the shadows as much as possible, doing my best not to draw attention on to myself because the last thing you want to do is get yourself into unnecessary situations that could lead to injury or death.

Coming up on the next left should be the alley that exits out onto the street, that's when I come upon a situation that I was trying so hard to avoid myself.

Up ahead I could a gruff voice saying something.

Against my better judgment, I slowly make my way towards the alley where the voice was coming from and take peek around the corner. Past the edge of the building, I could see three guys surrounding what seems to be a young girl holding a bag tightly to her chest.

"Please, I have no money or anything to give you guys, this makes no 'cents', h-a ha, please let me go." The girl laughs nervously, seemingly trying to plead for her to be let go.

At this I start to turn around to find another way to my destination, you see to survive out here you need to follow a couple of rules and one of those rules is 'don't get involved in situations that don't concern you to avoid making enemies.'

"If you don't have money, maybe there is something else we could take." My body suddenly stops at those words and a war breaks out in my conscious. What kind of person would I be if let this happen, I would be no better than those three assholes. I can't believe it, I'm actually going to get involved.

With a sigh, I turn around.

I slowly make my way back and begin to take in my future opponents. The three of them seemed to be lowly thugs and I see no indicators that they are a part of any known gangs which was a blessing, maybe I could get out of this without jeopardizing my life in the process.

A plan starts to form in my head, putting up my hood to cover my face I begin to set that plan in motion.

Turning to a nearby trash can, I tip it over and slightly wince at the clanging noise that it makes as it echos down the alleyway.

The reaction was immediate, "what the hell was that?" The gruff voice questions.

"I don't know, Gary go check it out while we keep this one company." Perfect, reaching into my bag, I pull out my penknife while pressing myself against a wall behind one of the dumpsters to lie in wait.

As soon as "Gary" comes around the corner, I plant my feet against the dumpster and push it out. The dumpster moves a little slower than I wanted it to, but the effect was still the same.

If this Gary was a little more warier of his surroundings, then maybe he could have avoided being knocked over by the oversize trash can, but fortunately for me, he wasn't.

Seeing him go down, I jump into action.

Launching myself over the dumpster, I swiftly plant my back foot and swing with the other, making my foot connect with his head, causing a loud audible crack to emanate down the alley, knocking "Gary" out cold.

Admiring my handiwork, I fail to notice one of the other two thugs coming up behind me.

"looks like we got our selves a little hero." Shit, I guess he heard all the noise and decided to come to check on what was happening.

Turning to meet him I notice that he is holding a large knife, "Tell me kid, do you wanna die?" his gruff voice sending a chill down my spine.

Not giving him a response, I reach into my bag and wait for him to charge, knowing that he will.

A few seconds later, he charges quite recklessly just like I wanted him to do.

When he gets close enough, I whip out a can of bug spray and begin to spray it into his eyes. What followed was screams of pain and a wild swing that connected with my arm making me hiss in pain while I retreat slightly to avoid any more injuries.

I can't let this thug get his vision back, thinking fast I pick up some loose bricks and with a lot of effort, I fling it towards the thug's head.

It hits head on knocking him to the ground still moaning in pain, pulling rope out of my bag I quickly tie the two of them together and make my way towards the alley with the last thug.

Turning the corner, I'm greeted with the last thug holding the girl with a knife pressed against her neck. "Fucking useless the both of them." he mutters before turning to me "any closer and I cut her open."

Taking one look into his eyes, I could instantly tell he meant it, any movement I make will result in the girl dying. A plan comes to my head one that would be risky and would rely on a lot of chances, but it's the only one I got.

"Hey man, calm down just let her go and leave, we don't need to escalate this to anything more," I said trying to talk him down.

"Ha, fat chance, as soon as I let her go you'll just attack." He says bringing the girl closer to himself.

Shit, I'm going to need to do something and quick, but I need a distraction.

Looking at the girl I try to communicate to her that she needs to cause a distraction hoping she understands what I'm trying to do.

Nodding while glancing down at her bag, she quickly unclasps it, causing a dummy to fall out. The sudden motion causes the man to jump back and to push the girl forward harshly, making her trip forward.

Using this I push forward and swing my penknife at the leader thugs' leg just missing him.

As I get up, I prepare for a fight, but to my surprise, it seems that the leader thug decides that this wasn't worth his time, as he begins to turn heel and run.

The fight seems to be over.

I collapse to the ground finally feeling the strain of the whole fight flow through my body, but my work wasn't done yet.

Looking at the girl, she seems to be coming around looking up in a daze. Thinking quickly, I pick her up causing me to strain my muscles, lifting anything bigger than me is usually a hard task, and I begin to carry her towards the street.

As soon as I arrive on the street, I prop the girl up against a building and begin to think of a new plan of what to do with her.

Just as one was forming, my thoughts were interrupted by another girl's voice.

"Oi mate, what are you doing with my sister?" The raspy voice makes me jump and I turn to see another girl wearing a purple shirt with a skull design with matching boots and skirt.

Taking in the situation, I probably don't look good, having her sister knocked out up against a wall.

Thinking quickly, I start to run back down the alley I came from.

I stop as I see the dummy that fell out of the case that was nearby and without thinking I pick them both up and begin running again, making my way past the tied up thugs abandoned by their so-called boss.

As I get a couple of alleys away, I start to inspect the dummy, my first impression of it is that it looks creepy, it looks like it belongs in a horror movie. The cold dead eyes with the ginger hair really gave the doll a Chucky vibe. I could probably sell this for a couple of dollars to a pawn shop.

Feeling the cold, I look around and find that the sun is almost set, hues of colour lighting up the sky on its descent. I won't make it back to my hideout tonight, so I should probably set up a place to sleep.

Finding an alley beside a quiet side street that is illuminated by a lonely street lamp, I begin to set up shop using my backpack as a pillow. It was coming up in November, so the temperature has taken a plunge, trying to warm myself up I huddle into myself trying to ignore the outside world.

The case and the dummy were lying beside me, I probably have a closer look. I get up and open the case to have a look inside.

Inside I saw what seemed to be messages made out to the girl that I saved. I started to read through them, "Happy birthday to our favourite little comedian."- Dad and Mom, "Keep the jokes on coming little dude."- Luna, "Sigh, your comedy briefly fills the dark void in my heart."- Lucy, "Didn't we just celebrate this like a year ago?"-Leni, "Happy womb emigration day genetically similar older sibling. "- Lisa. The messages continue on, overall there seemed to be Ten messages in total.

It's obvious that the girl was well-loved by her family. It must be nice to know that many people actually care about you.

A weird sense of resolve sprung up inside of me. I have to return it to her, I can't sell this, the meaning and love put into it was too much just to be sold. If I'm going to return it to her I'm going to have to find her first which in a city as big as this, could be impossible.

Laying back, I decide to think of a way to get this back to her in the morning. With this, I suddenly realise how cold it is. It's going to be a long night, trying to fall asleep I think of about the girl I saved, the day didn't go as planned but at least someone didn't get hurt or worse, so that's something.

With that, I drifted off. The sounds of the city slowly drifting down the alley.


	2. Park Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lincoln needs to get in.

_"Lincoln where are you?" a gruff voice reverberates off the old walls of my bedroom "Get out here boy." Peaking out through the slits in my closet I see the imposing figure of my "Father" knock over some trinkets I had on my bedside table._

_Leaning back into the closet I screw my eyes shut and struggle to quieting my breathing. I begin to rock back and forward just listening to my room be destroyed by the man who took me in._

_Suddenly the darkness I was in lights up as the closet door is abruptly swung open, "You think you can hide from me" his voice sends chills down my spine "Look at me boy." Opening my eyes and instead of meeting his, I look towards the Item he is holding in his hand which was a belt._

_I could barely shout any words of protest it comes down_.

Jolting awake, I am greeted by the unfamiliar surroundings of an alleyway which only fueled the panic flowing through me that was induced by what I have just dreamt. God, I hadn't had a nightmare like that in weeks, shaking my head I try to banish all thoughts of it.

Where even am I? Suddenly the events of the previous day hit me like a freight train, did I really save a girl from three thugs. Glancing to my side I see the case with the creepy doll in it, I guess I really did.

Getting up, I stretch out the kinks gained from sleeping on the cold hard ground and take in my surroundings now that daylight is filling up the alley. It looked to be a good pick, the size of the passageway seemed to be too small for any adults to sleep in or for any muggers to hide in.

Grabbing my bag and the case, I make my leave.

Its early in the morning so the streets aren't that populated. Feeling the weight of the case in my hand, I start to formulate a plan to find the owner of this case as fast and efficient as possible.

While a plan was starting to come together in my head on how to get the case back, I walked past a pole with a poster on it. The eye-catching purple used extensively on the poster is what caught my attention, taking a closer look at the people on the poster, I spot a familiar face.

It was the girl who was wearing the t-shirt with the skull design on it, the same one who came to check on her sister in the alley the day before. Reading through the Information on the poster I see the name of the girl, Luna Loud, Just like the name in the case.

A sense of happiness filled through me, where ever Luna is, the owner of the case is bound to be there too. Reading more of the information on the poster I notice that the show will take place tomorrow at 4.00 p.m. at a carnival a few blocks away.

This means I have a full day to wait before getting to return this creepy doll, what the hell am I going to do for an entire day? Abruptly my stomach growls loudly, Oh yeah, I totally forgot that all I had to eat for the last 24 hours was half a can of beans.

Checking my pockets I pull out around 3 Dollars, it's not much but it will have to do.

Heading to the local Plaza, I make my way towards a local hot dog vendor. After a quick conversation with the vendor, I find myself planted on a park bench tucking into a plain hot dog. As I sit here, I begin to survey my surroundings watching people go about their lives without a care in the world.

Looking over to a nearby fountain, I start to study the people there as well, I watch as people causally toss money into the water feature, what a waste if you ask me.

Through my observations, I take notice of a person glancing around and staring at something in the park, following his eye line I see what he is looking at.

It seemed to be a girl not much taller than me with brown hair in comparison to my stark white, she was wearing a red and white jersey that match a pair of shorts she also had on. Her face was scrunched up with something akin to anger while she kicks a soccer ball full force at a nearby tree. She seemed to so oblivious to her own surroundings.

I direct my attention back towards the man who was looking at her and notice he is starting to make his way over to her with a gleam in his eye.

Once again I was at war with myself, I already gave myself enough trouble yesterday and I really don't need to garner a reputation as someone who meddles in people's affairs. Getting that kind of reputation could lead to me being dead. That being said, the sense of pride that I felt yesterday after doing my good deed was the happiest I felt in a while.

Deciding to upkeep my streak of helping random people, I quickly stuffed my bag and the case into a nearby bush. I then head on over to her at lightning speed.

Once I reach her, I see the guy stop in his tracks and stare at me, thinking it's not worth his time he heads back to the fountain he was sitting at. That was close, who knew what that guys intentions were.

"What do you want Kid?" I hear an angry voice from my side, oh yeah the girl.

"I uh j-just came over to check if you were OK, you look like there is something bothering you." Really smooth Lincoln, she's not going to think you're creepy at all.

"I'm fine, just some stupid boys thinking they are better than me, I could cream them if they let me play" she mumbles to herself. Now it makes sense why she was out here by herself, it was such a stupid thing not to let someone play with you just because of their gender.

Sighing to myself, now that I'm here it's not like I can leave her alone "Can uh I-I play w-with you?" Great ask a stranger to play soccer with them, really painting yourself to be weird here.

"Oh you're on, I 've been dying for someone to play against, none of my sisters would and after those idiots told me I couldn't play I have been itching to show off my skills." she quickly exclaims.

Am I the only person with any sense of stranger danger around here, I can't help thinking about what would've happened to this person if I hadn't come over here.

Glancing to her face I instantly feel dread fill me as there is a look of what l can only describe as competitiveness filling her eyes, I tell myself that I may have made a mistake Challenging her to this game of soccer.

* * *

It was around 5 goals in when I knew it was a mistake challenging her to a soccer game. Every time I try to retaliate and get a goal of my own she easily alleviates the ball from my possession and quickly scores on me, it was getting old quite fast.

She was just about to score another goal on me when a huge van pulls up with the window rolled down. Looking inside I see a blonde girl looking at her phone intensely, "Lynn Loud Jr. you better get your ass in this van." she shouts without once taking her eyes off the screen.

"Hey kid, thanks for playing with me, even though it wasn't much of a challenge." The girl smiles at me and continues "Also thank you from stopping that creep from coming over to me, I could've totally kicked his ass but it was nice not having to." With that she was off, grabbing her ball and running over to the van the last thing I heard her say was "You know mom said no phone while driving." before the van drives off.

As I was smiling to myself something struck me, did the girl in the van just say Lynn Loud? Going over to the bush where I stuffed my bag and the case I open it and read through the messages. As I came to the third last one I slap my forehead, there in bold writing was the name Lynn Loud. Did I just miss a chance to return this thing?

Cursing to myself I turn and head out of the plaza. I got some time to kill, I guess I could spend some time pickpocketing some strangers outside a nearby shop.


	3. Getting In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are a lot of familiar faces.

To say that the concert taking place was a small one would be a huge understatement.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky which was a bit weird for it being near winter and while it wasn't hot enough for short-sleeved clothes there seemed to be less of a chill in the air. This didn't stop me from wearing my hat though.

It struck me how gigantic the venue was as I watch people come and go from the event, sitting on the roof of a nearby building.

It's actually quite surprising how many roof access doors are left unlocked in this city.

There seemed to be everything going on inside the place. I adjust my hat as I start to pan my eyes left to right and spot a few key things such as a Ferris wheel, a lot of vendors, some carnival stalls, a stage with room for a large audience and bumper cars' area.

There seemed to be something for everyone to enjoy here.

Knowing that the concert starts at 4 p.m. so that gives me an hour to return this case once and for all.

I start to make my way down to the stream of people who are entering the wonderland of fun, carrying my bag and the creepy doll with me.

Getting into the event is not going to be easy as there seemed to a fence surrounding the whole venue and the only way into it looks to be through the security at the front entrance.

That meant, unfortunately for someone, I was about to "borrow" their ticket.

Once I reach the flow of people outside the event I begin to take in every person to pick a good candidate to "borrow" a ticket from and after around 20 minutes of searching, I had selected my target.

The aforementioned target was a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair with bangs swept to the side with a pair of white sunglasses perched on top of her head. She was wearing a seafoam green dress that had white frills around the sleeves and bottom part of the dress along with a matching pair of sandals with bows on top of them.

She walked with her arms in bent with her hands hanging down and I couldn't help think that it was a bit weird, but each to their own. The girl was holding a handbag that was for some reason unclasped in her hand which made her an easy target for me.

I position myself in front of the girl and wait for her to get near the entrance of the event and just as she was about to reach it, I make my move.

Picking up my pace I put myself on a collision course with her, it takes a few seconds to reach her, but once I did, I crash into her shoulder.

The collision had my desired effect, as she stumbles a bit and her purse falls to the ground allowing a surprising amount of stuff to fall out. There was a lot and I mean a lot of make-up in the bag along with a lot of other miscellaneous items and a bit of money. The crash also made me drop the case onto the ground as well.

Thinking quickly I scan the items on the ground looking over each one and spot what I'm looking for, a ticket for the event. Acting with haste, I get a fast "I'm so sorry" out as I pick up all the items that had spilled onto the ground and stuff them back into the handbag being careful to pocket the ticket as I did.

As I continue to put the items back in the handbag, I come across the money that had dropped.

I could take it and have a couple of good meals or get a new jumper to help me through the coming winter, but I am already stealing from this girl and really don't want to take more. Eventually, I decide not to and put the money back where it belongs.

Standing up, I hand the bag back to the girl while saying "My bad I wasn't looking where I was going".

"It's OK," she says with a bright blinding smile. "It was probably my fault anyway" she continues on, bringing a finger up to her face.

"Trust me, it was my fault." The least I could do is take the blame for the mess I caused.

Before she could respond to what I said, another person comes over to us.

she was younger than the girl I am talking to and was probably younger than me. She was just a bit smaller than me and was dressed in a black dress with striped arms and leggings with her hair a pitch-black color that covered her eyes.

"Leni what did Dad say about wandering off in public," she states before saying, "Also what has he said about talking to strangers."

She turns to me with a look of something I can't make out due to the hair covering her eyes. This girl was really giving me the creeps.

"Oh, he was just helping me pick up some things that I dropped," Leni responds to the creepy goth girl, gesturing to the bag in her hand.

"Sigh, come on, I need to find a dark place to continue my poetry." The goth girl grasps the taller blonde's hand and leads her away like a child.

I just stood there dumbstruck, that was a bit weird.

I begin to grumble to myself strange people as I pick up the case I dropped and adjust the strap of my bag.

* * *

Getting past security was easy, once I had the ticket.

Standing on the inside of the entrance, I see a bunch of people rushing about going stall to stall buying different foods and playing different games.

I guess I need to find a place to camp out at for the next half an hour or so before the show starts. Heading deeper into the venue, I slowly take in my surroundings.

Never have I been to something like this in all my life, it was amazing.

The smell of carnival food that fills the air along with the sound of laughter and conversations of random people fills me with contentment. The atmosphere is one of enjoyment and glee with people trying their luck at the probably rigged games and enjoying each other's company just added to it, that was kind of rare thing for me in my sort of life.

I haven't been here 15 minutes and I could already tell this was going down as one of the best days of my life.

Stopping outside one of the game stalls, I start to watch people try their luck. The game was quite simple, knockdown three milk bottles that are stacked in a pyramid shape and win a prize.

I watch as kids and adults alike come up and try to knock them down but time after time they fail. I was just about to move on when I see twins run-up to the game.

They were dressed in completely opposite clothes. One was wearing a flowing pink dress with a slightly lighter pink sash across it with matching shoes, she also has on long pink gloves with a white pearl necklace around her neck. In complete contrast to her twin, the other one was wearing a red baseball cap which was backward. She was also wearing white sneakers with blue stripes and a murky green t-shirt under dark blue overalls.

"Lana, I want that tiara and I want it now" the one in pink demands to her twin pointing towards a tiara that was the prize for knocking down the tower of milk bottles three times.

"Chill Lols, all you have to do is knock down the tower, it will be easy!" her twin exclaims while planting the appropriate fee onto the counter. The burly man running it smiles to himself and snaps up the money with more speed than he should have and exchanges it for 5 balls.

The overalls twin, Lana supposedly, picks one up and throws it missing far to the right. I watch as each ball is thrown with all of them failing to knock the tower over once.

"Sorry kids, looks like you didn't win." The man behind the counter said with a contrasting smile on his face. From my angle, I could see tears fill both of the eyes of the twins.

God damn it, the look on their faces is breaking my heart and before I knew what I was doing, I find myself slamming down money that I got yesterday by less than legal means onto the counter.

"Don't worry girls, I've got this," I say with some false bravado as the man behind the counter pops down 5 balls in front of me while mumbling something about stupid kids.

I could feel the twin's eyes on my back as I pick up the first ball, feeling the weight along with the texture of it. With all my time on the streets, I picked up a thing or two on how to beat games like this. The trick to beating this is quite simple actually, most people who play aim for the middle of the pyramid stack which only knocks down the top bottle, what you want to do is aim for the two bottles on the bottom.

Taking my own advice I throw the first ball and watch as it goes just wide. Well, that could have gone better I think as I hear two groans come from behind me.

The second ball I throw hits dead on and the tower comes down, perfect, one down two to go.

The third ball I throw has the same effect as the second, I hear a couple of cheers behind me as the tower comes down again.

I start lining up the fourth ball and just as I let it fly the burly man slams his hand down on top of the counter he was standing beside. This caused me to throw the ball wide and miss the tower entirely.

Looking at him with a scowl, he just smiles and says "oops, my bad." holding up his arms in a surrender position.

Taking my last ball, I block out my surrounds, drowning out the smells and the noise of the carnival. With extreme focus and care, I toss the ball as hard as I can and watch as it flies through the air, hitting dead on.

A couple of whoops sound off behind me.

The burly man behind the counter scowls"Fine, pick a prize kid and be quick about it." he says while leaning on the counter. There were a lot of cool things to pick from, but I was doing this for a reason. I point towards the tiara that was hanging up high.

Taking it out of the man's hand, I turn around and hand it to Lola, the twin in the pink dress. "Here you go," I say with a smile.

"Thanks, mister, that was totally awesome," the one in the overall says while jumping up and down.

"It was nothing special, anyone could have done it" I mumble trying not to make a big deal out of it. Lola was just about to add something when a male voice erupts from a speaker on a tall post nearby.

"Attention all concert-goers, the music performances are about to start so why don't you all head on over to the stage area." The voice comes out in a loud manner with excitement filling their tone.

"Thanks again mister, but we got to go," Lana says while darting away with Lola quickly following screaming at her twin to slow down.

Watching them go I decide that I should probably go to the stage area myself. Making my way through the river of people all heading in the same direction. Once I arrive, I find myself at the back of the crowd who were all facing towards the stage.

I could see some stage through the arms of the many people in front of me, a band of 4 were starting to get on the stage. The band members take up their position across the stage and Introduce themselves as 'Sadgasm' with cheers irrupting from the fans that were in the swarm of people in front of me.

They launch into their first song and the crowd goes wild.

* * *

After about another three bands, all with a unique style ranging from punk and country, a face that I recognise instantly from two days ago takes the stage.

"What's up Royal Woods, are you ready to get LOUD" she exclaims while throwing her right hand into the air with her baby and index finger sticking up. Around her waist, there was a purple guitar that matches her clothes that were oddly the same thing she was wearing from two nights ago.

When she finished her sentence the audience erupted into a loud ear bursting cheer. "Well let's get ROCKING and ROLLING" she screams bringing her hand down straight to her guitar and begins to blast out the opening chords to her song.

I never was a lover for this kind of music before being more of an acoustic man myself but I had to say that she was not just good but great!

She seemed to be really invested in what she was singing and the expression on her face shows that she is really enjoying herself. That kind of energy had transferred to the crowd as the people start to really enjoy themselves.

She continues on to go through three songs each one keeping up the momentum of the previous and she finishes by running and sliding on her knees holding on to the last note in her song.

The crowd erupts into loud applause and starts chanting "Luna Loud" over and over again.

That was amazing, I never felt so alive in my whole life, the rush of energy surges me on to find Luna and give the case back to her finally.

In front of me, I hear whispers of conversations seep through the loud cheering, saying something about an autograph place where you can meet the performers. That's perfect, time to go see Luna.


	4. Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a rainy day in Royal Woods

The line for Luna's autographing table wasn't just long, it was extremely long. I've been standing in line for around half an hour whilst constantly shifting my weight from one leg to the other.

I've been trying to come up with things to say to her once I reach the table.

Last time I saw her, she thought I was assaulting her sister, hopefully said sister that I saved has cleared up the situation, so I don't get tackled by security on-site once I reveal who I am.

The line starts to inch closer and closer towards the signing desk. With each inch, the nerves inside me begin to grow.

What am I even doing, I'm just a homeless kid returning a dumb case that I took in the first place, normal people don't do that. I probably should just leave, the dummy is probably not even that important to them. Yeah, I'm jus-

"Hey dude, are you alright over there" I hear a raspy but feminine voice which snaps me back to reality, finding myself standing in front of the line facing the person I was debating to myself about talking to.

I must have been automatically walking with the crowd while having my internal monologue, way to go Lincoln.

I feel a slight push from the person behind me which spurs me a little and gives me a bit of confidence to overcome my apprehension. Walk up to the table which Luna stood behind and placing the case on the table, I look up to take in her features now that I'm close enough to make them out properly.

Her face was dotted with freckles which blended with her soft brown eyes, her ears were adorned with paper clip earrings which lead to her brown hair that was a pixie cut. She was in the same outfit that was on the poster, purple seemed to be incorporated into every aspect of the outfit.

"Heh, not much of a talker are you?," she says with a smile "Don't worry dude I'm just plain old Luna Loud, now why don't I sign your case?" she says bringing her marker down towards the case.

Putting my hand down onto it I let out a quick but loud "NO" which results in her jumping up a little but I continue on anyway "I'm not here to get anything signed, I just wanted to return this to your sister."

A look of confusion enters her eyes as she tilts her head to the side. I unclasped the case and opened it up to reveal the creepy dummy inside. Her expression becomes unreadable and I begin to sweat. She's about to scream for security and I'm going to be tackled by guards twice my size.

I was just about to run when she suddenly leans over the table and takes me into a tight hug which left me dumbstruck. "You're the kid who was there, you where the one who saved Luan, thank you so much," she says with so much emotion while keeping me in her death grip of a hug.

Escaping from her grasp, I take a step back and bring my left hand to my neck's nape and begin to rub it nervously. "It really was nothing, anybody would have done it" I mumble out as I fail to make eye contact with her, preferring to stare at the ground.

"Not only did you save her, but you also found her case and brought it back dude, Luan was devastated when she found out it was gone" she continues on ignoring what I said.

"Hey, I'm finished in around 5 minutes, why don't you wait around and then you can return Mr. Coconuts personally dude. She would love to meet the person who saved her." That does not sound like a good idea but before I could protest she pushes me into a chair that was nearby and goes back to the table to sign more autographs.

How the hell did I let this happen? I just wanted to return the case not hang around for too long. I could leave, but that would be rude, plus getting past all the people in line would draw a lot of unneeded attention onto myself.

The 5 minutes went by in a blur as person after person came up with excited looks on their faces. Luna was treating every one of them with the same excitement and vigor which she never seemed to run out of supply of.

I watch as she wraps up with her last fan, with security announcing that the signing was over to the chorus of audible moans from the crowd. Making her way over to where she planted me, I see Luna offer her hand which I take, with a strong pull I get to my feet and look up to meet her eyes.

"Come on dude, Let me introduce you to my family," she says while turning around and heading off in a certain direction with me slowly following. Luna probably knew where her family was judging by the confidence she was showing while walking.

The destination soon became apparent as we arrive at a small food court set up outside a food vendor's stall. Weaving in out of the tables, I accidentally bump into one which resulted in a bottle of ketchup falling to the ground. I apologise quickly and pick up the bottle to place it back on the table.

"Here we are dude, Let me introduce you to the Loud family" I hear Luna say behind me.

I turn around and take a step forward only to stop in my tracks. Sitting down at a bunch of tables that were all pushed together were eleven people. Two of them were adults while the rest were all girls. This wasn't what caught my attention though, it was the fact that I recognise a vast majority of them, all but two were faces I knew.

They were the girls I had run into over the last couple of days.

"Guys Lo-" Luna begins to say only to be interrupted by the girl in the red and white jersey who was in the park yesterday, I remember her name being Lynn.

"Hey I know you, you're the kid that I played soccer against yesterday at the park" before I could say anything in response someone else speaks up from the table.

"He also helped Leni pick up some stuff that she dropped outside the entrance" That one wasn't technically true as I was the cause for that little accident.

"He won Lola a tiara at one of the game stalls, it was pretty cool." Like I said before that wasn't anything special.

"Well It seems you made quite the impression with some of our daughters, why don't you introduce yourself son." Who, I can only assume was the father speaks up over the noise his daughters were causing.

"My name is Lincoln," I say, while once again rubbing the back of my neck nervously,

Looking at them they seem to be expecting more. Realisation spreads in mind, a second name, they are looking for a second name. Thinking quickly, I scan the carnival and spot a couple of rocks on the ground, "Rockstin, Lincoln Rockstin." Yeah, a totally legit name Lincoln.

"Well, Lincoln I would like to thank you for the things you've done for our daughters these last few days," the Louds dad says with a kind smile. That was the first sincere 'thank you' I had received from an adult in a long time, I couldn't help but smile a little.

"Hey Lincoln, don't you have something to give back to Luan" Luna whispers to me. Oh! Yeah, the case, looking over the familiar faces I land on the girl from that fateful alleyway. She seems to be looking at me with an indescribable expression. Mustering some courage I approach the table and lay the case down in front of her.

"Hey, sorry about taking this, it was kind of a spur of the moment decision," I mumble out as I push the case towards her.

"I never thought I would see Mr. Coconuts again.," she says with some hesitation, "I thought that I might have to go solo." Luan picks up Mr. Coconuts and replies to herself "What do you mean doll? Your act is fifty percent me." A bunch of groans erupts from the group as many of them slam their heads into the table.

Before anything else could be said my stomach erupts loudly, letting out a growl. All eyes turn to me and I could feel my face heat up, "Hey Lincoln why don't you join us" Lynn says happily while patting an empty seat beside her eagerly.

"Uh, I don't have any money on me" I mutter, remembering spending the last of it on the milk bottle game to win that tiara Lola has on.

"It's on us." I hear the dad say from down the table "It's the least we could do for you after all you've done for our daughters."

Should I really pass up a free meal? I ask myself.

Looking at Lynn she is still tapping the seat beside her, glancing around the table I receive multiple puppy dog eyes from the sisters, most notably from Lola, Lana, and Leni. Sighing to myself, I sit down and pick up a small menu on the table.

Looking around the place I notice that it was quite big for a vendor that would usually be set up in an event such as this, this place even had two waiters.

Speaking of the waiters, one heads on over to me and I place my order, choosing just a plain burger and fries.

"So Lincoln, are you here with any family?" Luna asks while digging into her own meal that was already ordered for her presumably by her family.

"No, um, my parents were busy today, so I came here myself." Keeping my answer vague I stare in front of me as my meal is put down. I can't remember the last time I had a meal this big. It's probably been years.

"Huh, so you are here by yourself, sounds a bit lonely" I hear Lynn say beside me while pushing some of her fries around. She suddenly sits up straight and turns to me with a smile, "I know, why don't you come with me, and we both can check out some stalls together."

"Sure" I find myself saying not really paying attention to what she was saying being more engrossed in the food in front of me.

Hey, I want to check out the game stalls as well" I hear Luna pipe up taking a moment to turn away from her food to look at me and Lynn.

Wait, what did I agree to?

"Yeah me too" Luan also adds while not taking her eyes off the case that Mr. Coconuts was in, I wonder what's bothering her? Its probably none of my concern, what was my concern was that I just accidentally agreed to spend the rest of the day here with three of the Loud sisters.

* * *

After I was done eating, Luna, Luan, Lynn and I head out to explore the rest of the carnival.

Lynn decided she was going to take the lead for the first part. Leading us to a game that requires you to bring a hammer down onto a point as hard as you can, a game called high striker.

"You can't be serious Lynn, a strength test, you know you are going to win," Luna complains with a look that screamed unimpressed.

"Come on Luna Let's just try it, I know Lincoln wants to." I do? I guess I don't have much of a choice.

"Fine, but I'm going first," Luna says while handing the employee in charge of the game some money.

She walks up to the designated area that you had to stand at and lines up her swing. The hammer comes down with a surprising amount of force and strikes the target head-on. We watch as the ball flies up the machine and stops around the sixteen mark, around four off hitting the bell.

"Wow Luna, That was quite impressive," I can't help find myself saying as I clap along with the other two sisters. Taking a bow Luna hands the hammer back to the employee and makes her way back over to us. Lynn decides that she was to go next.

Her hammer comes down with a lot more noticeable force than Luna's and the ball flies up and reaches the nineteen mark getting so close to the bell. Lynn lets out a cheer and begins to do a silly dance.

"Told you Linc, she always wins these types of games," Luna says with a look saying that she knows all too well what the outcome was going to be before even playing.

"Hey Lincoln, your turn, don't worry I've got you covered," Lynn says while handing me the hammer obviously implying that she paid for my go. I make my way up to the target and all the while I am analyzing the game, there must be some trick to it.

Suddenly an idea hits me, this game is not about strength but about accuracy.

I hold the mallet as far down the handle as I can and judge how far away I am from the stand, this gives me the best chance to hit the target dead-on.

Happy with my position I lift up the hammer and bring it down just where I wanted it. The hit had the desired effect as the ball soars up the machine and hits the bell letting out a loud ring as it hits it.

Smiling to myself I turn to see three shocked faces. "Woah, how did you do that?" Luna says while gesturing to the machine behind me.

"How did you beat me?" Lynn says eagerly, probably trying to figure out what I did due to her being from what I can tell, obviously stronger than me.

"It's all about the accuracy, not at all about how hard you hit it," I explain as I come back with my prize. Not knowing what to pick I just settled on a cool looking mask that had intricate designs on it, I believe it might be a Lucha Libre mask.

Once I reach where they are standing, I notice Lynn Looking at the prize I picked out with something akin to want on her face.

Lynn did pay for me to have a go on the game, so what is the harm in giving her the prize I won.

"Hey Lynn, why don't you have this, you did pay for me to have a go after all," I say to her while offering the mask to her. A red blush explodes across her face as she accepts the gift and gets out a meek thank you while taking a step back and looking at Luan.

"Are you going to give it a go Luan," Lynn says trying to move on quickly.

"Oh nah, I can never quite '_Nail' _these types of games, get it," Luan says with a smile while looking at her two sisters who started to groan. I let out a little laugh at the joke which seemed to catch Luan off guard

"Your turn to pick a game Luna" Luan mutters out while looking away from me.

Luna started to consider what game she was going to pick bringing her finger up to her face to think. She suddenly snaps her fingers and states, "I know what game to play dudes, follow me." Luna then darts off with us following behind.

As we made our way to where ever Luna had decided to go, I feel a chill go up and down my spine. It feels like there is someone watching me. I can feel eyes bore into me from somewhere. Feeling paranoid I look around trying to find the source of my discomfort, as I look, I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey, Linc are you alright" I look at Lynn and smile a little.

"Oh, I'm fine, just wondering what game Luna has in mind," I say brushing of the feeling of being watched.

"Well by the looks of it, I would say it's the dunk tank," Lynn exclaims while pointing at the game we are walking towards. Luna was already getting her three balls off of the employee.

"What's this, you can't hope to dunk me in." The man sitting in the precarious seat that was hanging over water says mockingly to Luna as she misses her first shot. Her second shot goes the same as the first much to the man's amusement.

"You throw as well as you sing" The man taunts causing Luna to narrow her eyes in anger. Taking a deep breath, Luna winds up her shot and sends it flying hitting the target dead on sending the man on the seat plunging into the water.

The three of us burst into cheers as Luna pumps her hand into the air sticking out her tongue.

"You showed him Luna" Lynn congratulated Luna as she patted her on the back.

"What a '_wave' _to make him eat his words Luna" Luan jokes with a pun causing me to give a little chuckle.

Lynn decided to go next and to no one's surprise dunked the guy three times all the while muttering something about making fun of her sister and how about he should never do it again.

I went after Lynn at the behest of Luna who wanted to see what I could do. Unfortunately, my go did not go as well as Lynns. I miss my first shot, hit my second and then miss my third. Not my best performance but I had fun while doing it.

Luan decided she was going to try this game and step up to get the balls. It took us by surprise when she hit the target every time, she didn't even break a sweat. "That was a piece of _pie'_." Luan says turning to our surprised expressions. Seeing them Luan just shrugs her shoulders and says "What? I throw pies in people's faces all the time, I need to have good aim to hit them directly."

I'm not even going to ask why she would be throwing pies in people's faces in the first place.

"So Luan, where do you want to go now?" I ask while looking at her. Like Luna, she pauses to think and comes to a decision. She points towards the Ferris wheel that's nearby.

"Wait, really?" Lynn exclaims, "The Ferris wheel, that's boring." she continues on only to receive a flick on the ear from Luna.

"I think that's a great idea." Luna voiced her opinion while glaring at Lynn. I just shrug my shoulders and go along with them.

We enter the line to the Ferris wheel and only wait for a few minutes to reach the front. Lynn and Luna enter the first pod when we get there.

Suddenly Luan grabs my arm and says, "Hey Lincoln, do you mind riding with just me?" Huh, I guess I don't, so I just nod and enter the next pod with her.

The ride starts and we slowly rise into the air. I watch as Luan rubs her hands together and glances between me and the view we were getting from the elevation of the ride.

We were almost at the top when Luan speaks, "Hey Lincoln, I never got the chance to thank you for what you did, It was extremely brave of you. I could never tell you the amount of relief I felt when you came around the corner and just when I thought that I could never repay you for what you did, you go and return Mr. Coconuts as well. He really means a lot to me, I don't thi-"

"You already have repaid me Luan," I interrupt her speech, "You have paid me back by giving me one of the best experiences of my life," I say making eye contact with her. "I have not had his much fun in ages and it's all thanks you, Luna and Lynn so whatever debt you think you have to repay, I'm telling you right now that you already have." as I finish what I'm saying, I receive a sudden hug from the side. Luan hugs onto me for around 5 seconds and whispers a soft thank you before letting go as the ride comes to a stop.

We exit the ride and meet up with the other two Loud sisters. Luna looks at Luan with a look I can't make out, she probably knew why Luan picked the Ferris wheel.

"Hey sis, I got a text from dad, he wants to meet up with everyone, we'll be leaving soon." is how Luna greets us when we arrive. Luan nods and glances at me one more time.

"Hey Lincoln, if you are ever near 1216 Franklin Avenue don't be afraid to drop by," Lynn says with a hopeful look on her face. The neighborhood does ring a bell but I don't think I will be dropping by anytime soon, not that I'm going to tell Lynn or the others that. I respond by just giving a quick nod.

They all turn to leave with a quick goodbye and I watch as they disappear into the crowds.

I guess I should go to, I haven't seen my hideout since the day I saved Luan.

* * *

It was a long way back to my hideout, the sun was setting in the sky giving it several red hues.

Today was brilliant, I guess that was what it felt like to be a normal kid with a normal family. It saddens me a bit knowing that I'm probably never going to see those girls again, I don't want to think about it.

As I think about how good today was, I fail to notice a fence until I almost walk into it. Wait fence? When was there a fence around the neighborhood?


	5. Rainy Day

_A heavy breeze flows down the alleyway causing me to bring my legs closer to my chest._

_It's been a week since I spent the day with the Loud sisters at the carnival, It's been a week since I found out that the only place I ever called home was going to be knocked down making way for new houses. I hug my knees closer to me and think back._

_The fence blocked the way into the neighborhood, I scan it looking for anything that might give away why the fence was here in the first place. On the opposite side of the road across from me, there were signs pinned to the fence._

_I walk over with a bit more speed than necessary and come to stop in front of them. On it was a house that looked too pristine to be real, it was modeled off of the classic suburban home. Beside the picture, it read, "New houses coming soon." I feel pain grip my heart as I begin to stare right past the sign trying to think about what I'm going to do now._

Sighing, I pick up a rock and chuck it at the wall that was attached to the building I was sitting opposite, the noise echoing loudly down the alleyway. From what I could learn through people who live in the area, the houses were getting knocked down due to the increase of squatting complaints and the want to add more housing options for potential buyers. All this at the expense of my home.

The alleyway I'm in right now has been acting as my home since. The winter chill is coming up and the first snowfall is bound to happen soon, this place is not going to provide the best protection from the elements of winter. I look down at my hands that are splattered with red splotches as the cold nips at my fingers relentlessly, trying to move my fingers I feel aching pains shoot up and down them.

It was encroaching on noon, I knew that I had to get up and prepare for the cold but the will inside me just wasn't there.

I need to get out of this cold, I could probably go to the mall and get a few items to help me through the coming months.

Grabbing my bag I pack up the items I managed to retrieve from my old hideout, which wasn't much and head towards the mall. I slip in and out of passageways all the way to the mall making my way past people in similar situations as me trying not to make eye contact with anyone of them.

I come out onto the street that is across from the large gray building and make my way towards it.

The mall provides a great number of people to steal from, It also provides a warm place to be for a while, only if I don't get kicked out for loitering or Looking shifty. I usually come here about once every two weeks but recently the mall has been beefing up security, due to this I only ever stick to pickpocketing as shoplifting is getting harder to get away with.

The door opens with a swish and I'm blasted by warm air which sends tingles through my body. I quickly make my way in, I walk up to a nearby bench and sit on it. The best place to pickpocket people is right by the entrance for many reasons. As people bump into each other as they walk in and out, it makes it less noticeable when someone slips their hand into your pocket, it also provides a quick getaway if you are caught.

I fall into the familiar routine of looking for easy targets, scanning the crowds as they come and go. I make a couple of passes at people sometimes coming up lucky getting a couple of dollars here and there. I tend to focus more on the people who look like they have more money, I couldn't bear it to steal from someone who already has very little.

After around twenty minutes I call it a day if I do this any longer than people would become suspicious. With the money I gained from doing this I decide that I should probably eat something a bit more filling than the measly things I've been having for dinner the last few days or so, not wanting to think about some of the questionable meals I had, I decided to head to the food court.

* * *

Heaven is the only way to describe a hot meal after not having one in a couple of days, this added with the cold weather only makes the meal all that more enjoyable. The food court was filled with a random assortment of people all engaged in their own conversations, some speaking in hushed whispers while others talk more animatedly. The conversations create a nice background noise to relax to.

I looked down to the table and count the money I have leftover after I bought the meal I am eating, I could probably buy a coat with what's leftover, it wouldn't be a very good one but it would be better than having no coat at all. I take the last few bites of the food in front of me and take a few seconds to revel in the feeling of a full stomach. I sigh to myself thinking about how this is probably the best meal that I'm going to get in a while.

Scooping up the money I shovel it into my pockets and duck in and out of the tables that are spread throughout the food court and make my way out. I just about get to the exit when a familiar feeling strikes me, the one of being watched.

This time it was worse. It was probably on the account of me being alone this time, not bothering to look around this time, I quickly pick up my pace towards the exit and beyond. Rushing out into the main path where all the shops were lining the walls, the feeling never lessening as I go. I pick up a little bit of pace passing by a couple of shops not taking note of what any of them were.

I duck into a random store that had the name Reininger's on it in red and start to bob and weave through clothing stands, I look over my shoulder and try to find the source of this sudden anxiety. Nothing is out of place, I can see nothing that should cause thi-.

I was cut off as I collide with something or should I say someone as I hear an ompf noise come from in front of me. I quickly pick myself up off the ground and look down to help the person unlucky enough to be in front of me when I notice a familiar pair of sunglasses, wait, "Leni?" I find myself saying.

Looking her over I see that there are no visible injuries from the unfortunate accident. She seemed to be wearing her usual attire apart from having a name tag with her name on it, she must work here.

"Linky, I totes haven't seen you in like forever," Leni says getting up off of the ground, "Are you here to get new clothes" she exclaims and then lets out a little squeal "I know I can help you," she says with great enthusiasm.

"I don't Know Leni" I reply, "I'm not here to get too much, I'm here only to get a jacket nothing else." I begin to rub the back of my neck nervously. I guess this would be a good place to buy the jacket I say to myself not wanting to leave just in case the feeling of being watched returns.

"Oh, I totes know a great jacket for you," Leni says while grabbing my shoulders and starts to lead me over to a seat outside a changing room, "I be right back" Leni adds as she disappears behind a few clothes racks only to return with an orange jacket as well as a bunch of other clothes that I had to intention of buying.

"Here you go, try these on," Leni says while depositing the clothes onto my lap.

"Leni I told you, I only wanted to get a jacket, not all this." I tell her while gesturing to all the clothes she was giving me, "I can't even afford half this stuff anyway." That last part was definitely true, I can tell by just looking at the quality of the clothes Leni has giving me.

"Please Linky, can you please try them on."

I was just about to protest when I see Leni clasp her hands together and her eyes begin to get watery giving me a puppy dog look that was exactly the same as the one she gave me at the food vendors in the carnival.

Before I knew what was happening, I was walking towards the changing room with all the pieces of clothing. How come that look has so much power over me, I really need to start saying no.

In the changing room, I look more closely at what Leni has giving me. The first item I see is a pair of blue jeans alongside a pair of white runners with red stripes. I try them on and instantly notice how comfortable they were, glancing at myself in the mirror I notice that the jeans and shoes fit me well. The other item of clothing she got me was an orange polo, I guess orange must be my colour or at least Leni thinks it is. Putting it on, I take a look at myself and finding myself instantly agreeing with Leni, orange is my colour.

Straightening out the clothes, I exit the changing room to show Leni.

"I knew orange was your colour Linky," Leni happily says as she looks me over, "These are a definite keep." Wait "Leni, I told you I can't afford all this." I explain to her again.

"Don't worry Linky the clothes are totes on me, it would be like a crime against fashion if I don't" Leni says with a smile.

"Leni I can't accept that, it's a bit too much, besides it's not like I've done anything for you," I tell her while I head to take the clothes off of me.

"Linky" I hear from behind me. "Luan told us what you did for her at one of our sibling meetings and even though I didn't understand most of it, I do know that it meant a lot to her," Leni says. "I guess this is my way of saying thank you."

I do need new clothes my traitorous mind supplies. "Fine Leni, I guess I can accept this but I will pay you back for it." I don't know how I am going to do that but I will find a way.

Heading back into the changing room I quickly swap out of the new clothes into my old ones. Neatly folding the clothes into a pile, I walk back out to Leni who is holding a bag and informs me that the Items have already been paid for. I put the newly bought clothes into the bag, and we begin to walk towards the exit.

I thank Leni one more time and reaffirm my promise to pay her back for this. I was just about to exit the store when Leni speaks again.

"Hey Linky, Luna, Luan, and Lynn were a bit sad that you haven't visited yet" Leni explains to me.

"Oh uh sorry I've just been a bit busy lately" I mutter out the lie only for her to smile and say "It's okay Linky just come over soon okay"

"Sure" I reply not sure if I should add more or not. When the sisters told me to visit I wasn't really sure if they really meant it or not, I thought they were just being nice for the sake of being nice. I kind of feel bad for lying to them about visiting now.

"Great, I can't wait to see you tomorrow Linky" and at that she leaves heading back deeper into the store.

Wait tomorrow, I never agreed to visit tomorrow! How can they keep doing this to me?

* * *

The bathroom was quiet, the only noise was the dripping of the tap echoing off the walls, it was a nice break in the bleakness of the silence in the room. The light above me flickers casting the room into pitch black for a split-second.

I look into the mirror attached to the wall above the sink. I examine every mark on my skin which was constant reminders of my situation, each marking was like a note that told a story and it's never a good one, god I hate mirrors. The light blinks out again giving me a little respite before coming back on again.

Turning to the tub behind me, I turn on the shower inside of it and climb in being hit with the cold water causing me to shiver a little. I didn't have many joys in the world but this was one of them. I can feel the tension in my body flee under the cold stream of water.

I lose myself in the repeated sensation of the water hitting my face with drop after the drop hitting my forehead and flowing down my face.

I was almost done when I forceful knock hits the door. I didn't even need to think to know who's on the other side, it was always him.

I wake up to the feeling of rain hitting my face, one of the drawbacks of not having a roof for cover anymore. I try not to dwell on what I just dreamed of, not wanting to relive memories any more than I have to.

The ground never becomes easier to sleep on I think to myself as I feel each ache and pain in my back as I hop out of my sleeping bag. I knew I should have slept in a dumpster last night but the sky was quite clear the night before and I lost myself just looking at the stars. I am severely regretting past Lincolns' decisions now as the clothes I am wearing are now soaked in rainwater.

Speaking of clothes, I open my bag that contained the clothes that Leni got me yesterday and decide to put them on. I want to look at least a tiny bit presentable if I'm going to be visiting the Louds today. I know I should probably leave them alone, but they are the best thing to happen to me in a while, so excuse me for being a little selfish this once.

I get changed into the new outfit and throw on my jacket for a little bit of protection from the rain. I stuff my backpack under a dumpster and head on out the alley onto the joining street.

Walking to a nearby restaurant I spot someone on their phone, sliding up behind them I see that the time was around half ten in the morning. That leaves me a lot of time for me to kill before I head over to the address that the girls gave me at the carnival, for some reason I never forgot it.

I guess a little pickpocketing would be a productive way to spend the time I have to wait, with that I head off to find a good place to "liberate" some people of their money. Hopefully, this rain won't get any heavier.

The rain did get heavier, It was just my luck, to be honest, I probably shouldn't have tempted fate but I never put much stock in superstitions.

I have been standing outside 1216 Franklin Avenue for quite some time now unable to pluck up the courage to actually knock all the while my clothes were getting wetter by the minute.

The house was an interesting one. It was two stories high with a non attached garage to the right side of it. The exterior of the house was painted white, with a black colored roof and a porch was on the front side of the house. The yard was littered with the signs of all the sisters with toys and clutter scattered around.

I was snapped out of my stupor when I heard a voice beside me, "Sigh, I too like to stand out in the rain and ponder my existence but I think if you stand out here any longer you might catch a cold." If anybody asked me what kind of reaction I gave when the goth girl snuck up on me, I won't be mentioning the fact that I jumped in the air and let out a less than manly yelp.

"I have that kind of affected on people." The girl continues on. What was her name again, thinking back to the case, all the names inside it I have placed a face too, all but the name Lucy.

Lucy came out from behind me and started to walk up to her door opening it while turning to look at me, "Are you coming in?" She asks me with a questioning look or I think that she did, I can't really tell with the hair blocking her eyes.

Nodding I jog up the path that she just walked up and follow her as she enters the house.

Through the front door, I walk into a warm and most importantly dry living room. Lucy leads me over to the couch and gestures for me to sit down. She then disappears deeper into the house and returns quickly with a towel.

"Here this should be enough to dry you off a little," Lucy says in a monotone voice that gives nothing away. Man, this girl was creepy.

"I was in the neighborhood and I decided to stop by to check on how everyone was doing," I tell Lucy as I begin to dry myself off trying not to come off as a creep who has been standing outside their house for the last half an hour even though that's exactly what I did.

"Sigh, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn aren't here right now, and they probably won't be back for a couple of hours," Lucy says much to my disappointment.

"Why would Leni invite me over if she wasn't even going to be here?" I find myself saying with a bit of confusion.

"Lincoln, if there is one thing you will learn about Leni is that she can be a bit of an airhead," Lucy says as if it explains everything, which is kind of does, weirdly.

"Well I guess I should probably go then" I sadly say, I was kind of looking forward to hanging out with them, well I can always come back again.

I hand the towel back to Lucy and make to stand up, I only make it about half-way up when the room lights up for a split-second and a rumbling sound could be heard.

"Sigh, you should probably stay here until it dies down a bit out there" I hear Lucy say with indifference as she picks up the remote from the side of the chair and begins to flick through some channels.

I look at my options, I could go out there and face the elements or I could stay here for a while in this nice dry house.

"Thanks for letting me stay" I mutter to Lucy while relaxing back into the surprisingly comfortable chair. Lucy shows no reaction to what I said.

I look to see what she is watching on the TV, it seemed to be a ghost hunter show. I begin to watch with rapt attention as the host of the show seems to be entering an abandoned hospital.

The show was about ten minutes into its run time when I hear Lucy speak up from beside me, I totally forgot she was there.

"Sigh, Lincoln you wouldn't have a word that rhymes with sleep?" She says while tapping a pencil against a black notebook she was holding.

Not bothering to wonder where she got the notepad from I start to think of some rhymes for her. "Keep, deep, weep, creep, and cheap. Sorry if they are no good for you." I say while she writes some more obviously happy with one of the words I gave her.

"What are you even writing anyway?" I find my curiosities get the better of me.

"I write poetry, I get together with some of my friends, and we share poems while thinking about how sad the world is," Lucy says while still writing. She seemed to be a bit guarded for some reason.

"Wow, that's pretty awesome" I exclaim, "I don't know anyone who writes poetry, would you mind reading me one?" Lucy goes quiet for a while and I begin to wonder if I asked for a bit too much. I was just about to apologise to her when she suddenly clears her throat and begins to recite one of her poems,

"The Coffin is Black, empty and deep,

but she has promises to keep,

Until then she shall not sleep.

She lies in bed with ducts that weep.

She rises from her bitter bed,

With thoughts of sadness in her head,

She idolises being dead.

Facing the day with never-ending dread."

I stay quiet for a few seconds to gather my thoughts, "That was fantastic Lucy, I mean really fantastic. It was a bit sad but it was probably one of the best poems I have heard in a while." As I say this a see a faint slimmer of a smile on Lucy's face, it was hardly noticeable but it was still there.

"Do you have any more," I say with sincerity actually curious about other poems she has written.

That's how we found ourselves discussing poetry, Lucy was asking me for word suggestions and reading me some of her poems while just sit there and enjoy the moment.

After a while, I glance at a clock that was hanging on the wall and notice that we have been talking for around an hour. I tell Lucy that I should probably be going, now that the rain has eased off. I also have to go check on my bag that I left in the alleyway, if I left it for too long it would definitely be stolen.

"Thanks for letting me stay Lucy, I had a lot of fun," I tell her as I head to the door.

"Sigh, I must admit I did enjoy talking poetry with you Lincoln, I hope you come back soon." Lucys monotone voice says from behind.

"Don't worry, I will. Tell your sisters that I said hi" I say opening up the door and leaving.

That time I actually meant it.


	6. Tired Dancing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's one of those days (I really don't know what to put in these.)

I was tired, I thought to myself as I bump into another person who I didn't spot walking directly towards me. It was perhaps due to the fact that I was awake to see the sunset and was still awake to see the sunrise

I don't have a clue why I couldn't sleep, my best guess was that it is simply getting too cold to sleep as the days push on into the winter. I really need to find a new place to live before I catch pneumonia or something.

I think back on how warm the Loud' residence was, remembering just how cozy the house was when I visited a couple of days ago. It was one of the numerous things that I envied about people who had proper homes to live in.

I have to get out of this cold I think to myself as I begin to shiver just a little bit, I also need to get some proper sleep I add as an afterthought.

I only know one place where I can do both that also had the bonus of being warm and that place was the library. I also might be allowed to stay, well, at least for a little while. I begin to make my way towards it and ignore the looks I receive from people as I walk by.

A downside of moving to a relatively new area after the loss of my hideout was that I had no clue where the safe places around here were, I guess I need to start learning them soon or something bad might happen. I glance around at my unfamiliar surroundings and see people clumped together in alleyways with some people even warming themselves up using trashcan fires as a heat source.

Minding my own business, I continue on to my chosen destination which came into view after a couple more minutes of walking.

The library was not a place that the vast majority thought of when they wanted to get away for a while however for people like me, they were a great place to get off of the streets for a while.

Slowly wandering in, I let the warmth of the place over wash me. While not as warm as the mall, it was a world of difference compared to the temperature outside. I take in how Lavish and clean this place was compared to the library that I used to visit back when I lived in my hideout. I thank god that I let Leni buy me these clothes since now I look at least a little bit like I belong in a place like this.

I feel the Librarians' eyes on me as I approach a map that was attached to a nearby wall. I notice that this library was two stories high and had a wide range of sections for every sort of book. I scan the map to find the best place to be left alone for a while.

I spot an area on the second floor which looked to be an ideal location. It seemed to be a corner that was near the horror and autobiography sections. I pay no attention to the librarian as she continues to gaze at me. I start to stroll up the stairs and make my way to the spot that I picked out on the map.

I walk by a couple of people who were all reading some kind of book or another, I try not to make eye contact with any of them as I pass by in fear of inviting an unwanted conversation. Coming up on the place I picked out I notice that there was a small table there with nobody sitting at it. That was perfect, I really don't need anyone annoying me while I'm here.

Sitting in the wooden chair I take off my backpack and put it on the ground beside me, I also put my leg through one of the straps on the bag, it was a good way to ensure no one tries to steal it while I attempt to get some sleep.

I cross my arms in front of me to make a makeshift pillow that I could use. I lay my head down onto the newly formed arm pillow and I try to ignore how bony my arms are, It was quite easy thanks to just how tired I am.

I gradually drift in and out of sleep, startling awake every time I heard a noise that was a bit to close for comfort only to brush it off when I know that it wasn't a threat. I eventually drift into a deep sleep.

_"Come on, get up, get up," I say as my small frame jumped up and down on my parent's bed. "Come on Lincoln, can you give us a just a little bit more rest" I hear my daddy say as I continue to use his bed as my personal trampoline._

_"But it's my birthday!" I exclaim while striking a silly pose._

_"Well in that case" I hear my father say as he suddenly jumps up and grabs me and starts to tickle my sides, "Daddy, you know I don't like tickles" I manage to get out through the giggles._

_"What's the magic word" he taunts me from above._

_"P-Please" I quickly giggle out._

_"That's my boy," my dad suddenly stops attacking my sides and states with much affection. "Now, why don't we wake mommy up and get some super special breakfast!" dad says with a bright grin while I let out a little cheer._

_After getting mommy up out of bed, breakfast was made quickly. I stare at a large pancake stack that was put in front of me. These weren't just any normal pancakes, these were special birthday pancakes that had cake mix added along with frosting and sprinkles. It was a tradition in the house to have this only on your birthday._

_"Eat up snowflake, we have a big day ahead of us," mommy says while daddy puts his arms around her while giving her a peck on the cheek._

_"EW, that's so icky," I say while I start to attack the massive stack of birthday pancakes in front of me._

_They both laugh at my reaction and proceed to sit down and eat their own breakfast._

_Breakfast was over quickly, well mine was, my parents took their time all the while enjoying each other's company. As they eat I head upstairs to get dressed quickly barely containing my excitement._

_Once I am done changing, I fly down the stairs and when I get to the bottom I was greeted by my parents who were both smiling at me._

_"Hey kiddo, you wouldn't want to leave before opening one of your presents." daddy says while leading me into the sitting room. Inside the room, there were a couple of nicely wrapped presents on top of a coffee table._

_I eagerly run over to them before my daddy stops me, "Now, remember you can only open one present now." Another tradition on birthdays is that you can open one present before the day's activities while leaving the rest to open later._

_Scanning the pile of presents I spot a small one on top which I decide to pick up and turn to my parents, "I want to open this one." I say while proudly showing them my chosen gift._

_My daddy picked me up while laughing and says "Well snowflake, what are you waiting for, open it." I feel his finger tap my nose as he makes a little boop noise._

_I giggle and begin to tear at the wrapping paper without a care in the world, once all of it was gone I get a good look at what it was. It seemed to be a necklace with a plaque attached to it, looking closer I see that there is writing on the plaque._

_"What is it?" I ask while scrunching up my face._

_"Well" I hear mommy say, "It's a little something for you to remember that we will always be with you." Mommy takes the necklace out of my hand and wraps it around my neck." It says, to our son, you are braver than you know, smarter than you think, and stronger than you believe. Always remember that we love you more than you know and you will never be alone - Love Mom and Dad " she finishes saying while cupping my face._

_"Thanks, mommy and thanks daddy, I'm never ever taking it off!" I exclaim while bouncing up and down a little._

_"Come on snowflake, let's go celebrate," Daddy says while walking towards the door with me in his arms._

_The day passed to quickly for my liking, that being said it was so much fun. We went to the zoo, and we saw lots of big animals, we also went to the park where we got big ice cream cones and flew kites, it was so much fun._

_As we drove mommy and daddy were singing along to the radio, very badly but it looked like they were having fun, I couldn't help but giggle and join them. Mommy turned to look at me with a smile and continued to sing the song, it felt like this moment would never end._

_That was until a car in front of us swerved causing daddy to rotate the steering wheel in a futile attempt to avoid crashing._

_The last thing I heard was my mother screaming my name and a loud metal grating noise._

I woke to a book slamming onto the side of the table opposite of me, which quickly chased the bad feelings inside of me and replaced them with panic. Jumping up a little, I look up to see that standing there was one of the people I seem to keep running into more frequently than should be possible.

Fate must be conspiring against me, it had to be. In a city this big it would make sense that I would not run into the same people more than once a month, but it seemed that was just not the case as once again I see a Loud sister in front of me, more specifically one Luna Loud.

I read the title of the book that was slammed down onto the table, It seemed to be an autobiography for a singer named Mick Swagger.

"Hey, dude, were you asleep over here?" She asks while sitting down opposite of me.

"Uh, yeah, I mean no, I mean I was here to read some books but I just sort of dozed off." I quickly try to make up an excuse that didn't seem to be believed by Luna who just raised an eyebrow at what I said.

"If you say so, dude." She says with uncertainty looking down at the bare table in front of me which held no books. Well, I was never the best at lying.

"So, uh, w-what are you doing here?" I question her while looking out a nearby window to see that the sun had considerably moved position as it seemed to be around 2 in the afternoon.

"Well, a new family moved into a house near us, I think they are called the Yates or something" Luna says thoughtfully before continuing " any way they got Mom and Popstar thinking that we need to be more well-rounded people, so they dropped me off here to read books and brush up on my English or something," Luna explains with little care as she picks up the book in front of her and skims through some pages.

"And you chose an autobiography by some singer?" I say glancing at the words on the front cover which said, "Mick Swagger - Life by the guitar!"

"By some singer? You do know who Mick Swagger is, right?" Luna says with some outrage.

"No, uh not really," I respond, I never really had time to get into any bands or music, I kind of always had more pressing matters to deal with. When I did listen to music it was more acoustic-based than anything else.

Luna just looked at me dumbstruck, "WHAT!" she shouts loudly causing some nearby people to send some quick shushing noises and glares at us. "Everyone has to know Mick Swagger, he is literally one of the best musicians in the world." Luna continues on in a hushed voiced after apparently learning her lesson.

Luna sits up a bit straighter and puts her hand into her pocket looking for something, after a few seconds her hand retracts from her pocket along with a phone and a pair of earphones. Putting one into her left ear she leans over the table and puts the other in my right ear.

The close proximity that the action required, made me blush a little. I can't remember the last time someone was this close to me, let alone it being a girl.

"Here listen to this, it will change your life, it is one of my favourites." Luna says while pressing play on her phone.

Music started to flow from the earphone into my right ear, a slow guitar accompanied by drums and bass, I found myself nodding my head just a little bit. After 30 seconds a male voice begins to sing, the voice being backed up by Luna who sang along softly under her breath.

The song started to pick up a bit of pace but I found myself studying Luna more than I was actually listening to the song.

Luna seemed to be blocking out her surroundings as if it were just her and the music. She was obviously very passionate about music as I have seen from previous events but this was something different like this song was what defined her life or something.

After about 2 more minutes of enjoying Luna singing, I hear the song come to end and watch as she opens her eyes to look at me. "What do you think dude, totally awesome or what?" Luna says while smiling, waiting for me to answer.

"I can definitely see where you got your style from Luna, it was brilliant," I say only to watch her eyes brighten a little as if being compared to her idol was a huge compliment.

Luna was about to respond when the phone in her hand vibrated indicating the sound of a text. Looking at her phone Luna lets a little smile form on her face.

"It looks like Luan has ditched her 'Well-rounding' activity and has managed to drag Lucy to an arcade, they want to meet up." Luna says happily while standing up, she looks at me suddenly says, "Hey, do you want to come, dude?"

The offer caught me off guard, I didn't know why she offered me a chance to come with her, it's not like I'm a close friend or anything. I was thinking about declining the offer but something was compelling me to go, it was probably the desire to have another chance to act like a kid again.

Also, the chance to see someone like Lucy in an arcade was too interesting not to see.

At that, I come to my decision, "Yeah, I would love to," I say with a smile.

Luna grins at me and says "This is going to rock!"

* * *

The arcade was about a twenty-minute walk from the Library, the journey was filled with a conversation between Luna and I as we discussed random topics like what we wanted for Christmas and things that were happening later in the week. Admittedly, Luna took the lead for the conversations as I didn't want to say too much and anyways it was not like I had much to say on the topics.

We arrive at the front of the building and immediately walk into the building. This was a totally new experience for me, I never really been to an arcade. The closest I ever got to the arcades is usually when I pass by and hear laughter emanate out of the place, only getting a quick glance on the inside to see all the bright lights that the machines have.

We start to look for the sisters as we walk about, going from machine to machine with me getting distracted at every loud noise that they let out.

After searching for about a minute we come across both girls who were standing in front of a Dance Dance Revolution machine, I just catch the tail end of their conversation.

"Aw come on Lucy, don't leave me like the skeleton who had nobody to dance with, get it?" I hear Luan laugh at her own joke while Lucy just stands there giving no reaction until she saw us.

"Sigh, thank the spirits you're here, Luan won't stop pestering me to dance with her on the DDR machine," Lucy says to Luna with no emotion except giving a little shudder at the word dance. Lucy then looks at me and gives a confused look, or at least I think she did, I really can't tell.

"Don't worry little sis, Luna is here to the rescue?" The rock star sister says while pushing me forward, "Lincoln will definitely take your spot dude." OK, that was a complete lie, there is no way in hell that I'm going to dance on that machine but before I can voice my complaint Luan speaks up.

"Finally I've been waiting to challenge someone new for ages, I have beaten everyone I know. They don't call me the Dancing Queen for nothing." Luan jokes while quickly hopping onto the left side of the machine and entering the money to play.

"Nobody calls you the dancing queen Luan" Luna helpfully supplies while grabbing my hand and pulling me on to the right side of the machine. I would have put up more of a fight but the feeling of her palm in my own caused my mind to go blank and before I knew it the game had started up.

Well, no use in complaining now, I begin to pay more attention to the game. It seemed simple enough, as the arrows got to the top step on the corresponding one on the ground, an idiot could do it.

After 30 seconds of play, I was still somewhat keeping up with Luan, watching our scores slowly rise together. I might be able to beat her I think to myself, a little bit of hope raising inside of me.

That hope died quickly as the game progressed with it ending with me having a lot fewer points. I watch as my name appeared far lower on the scoreboard than Luans.

"What can I say Lincoln, It was a guaranteed de-feet" Luan laughs before saying "Get it?"

"Wow dude, I think with a little bit more practice you could probably be awesome at this game," Luna exclaims while Lucy mutters something about how nobody would want to be good at this game.

"Hey Luna, you never guess what," Luan says and before Luna can even give a guess she speaks again, "I think they've installed a new guitar hero game near the back of the arcade."

"What, no way dudes, let's go find it!" Luna jumps with joy and heads deeper into the arcade with us following her.

Once we found it, we took turns trying to beat Luna who was way too good at the game for her first try, eventually, we all gave up after we've all been beaten around four times each.

The rest of the time there went pretty much the same as one of us finds a game we were weirdly good at and proceed to destroy the other three over and over again. We did this for around an hour before I had to go.

"Are you sure you have to leave dude?" Luna asks me when I inform them if my imminent departure.

"Yeah, I have a couple of things that I need to do before it gets too late." I give as an explanation to them.

"Hey Lincoln, our parents won't be at home tomorrow, why don't you come over to hang out," Luan asks me with a little hesitation.

I think about for a few seconds before responding with a quick "Yeah, sure, I'll love to come over." I then say my goodbyes and take my leave.

The real reason I had to leave was because I needed something to eat. I had barely anything that resembled a meal since yesterday and I couldn't bear it if I forced them to buy me food again.

I wasted a lot of my money in the arcade today that I collected over the last few days, paying for my goes on the machines not wanting them to spend any more money on me than necessary. I won't have time to gather some more so that left me with only one choice, a soup kitchen.

I never really go to these places due to the unwanted attention an eleven-year-old attracts when they go to one of these buildings. It is a good way to get caught by child protective services and I will never go back to them and I mean never, not after last time.

I make my way towards the soup kitchen when I noticed the feeling of exhaustion creep back into me again, the effect of not getting any sleep last night hitting me again.

I can't wait to get this over with I think to myself as the soup kitchen comes into the view. The building looked miserable like it took on the personification of the people it helps.

I reach the door that had a pull sign on it and follow the signs' direction pulling the door open. The smell of soup mixed with the unfortunate bad smell of people who hadn't bathed in a while but I didn't complain as I probably smell just as bad or even worse than some of the people in here due to my many previous nights in the alley.

I join the line that was leading to the counter trying to ignore the looks I receive from the other people in here. As the line moved along I pick up a bowl that was provided along with a spoon.

I fiddle with the spoon to distract myself from all the eyes on me, can't people mind their own business, what happened to it being rude to stare? Putting my spoon into my bowl I decide to keep my eyes down, so I don't make any eye contact with anyone.

I continue to do this until I reach the counter only looking up to talk to the person behind it.

Once I look up at the person my heart stops and a pit in my stomach forms.

"Lincoln?" The voice of one Lynn Loud jr. reverberates around my head. I guess this was her "Well- Rounding" activity, fuck.


	7. Liar Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some mistruths are said.

I can't remember the amount of times I have felt true panic throughout my short life but three times tend to stand out as the worst amongst the rest.

The first was finding out my parents were in surgery and had a low chance of surviving.

The second was the time I was adopted by "him" and was dragged away from the people I considered family at the orphanage.

The third was the when I found out what my stepfather meant by punishment in the basement.

And now I can add this moment to the list as I stare right into Lynns' brown eyes which are a few shades darker than her older sister Lunas'. Watching as her eyes flicker through emotions ranging from shock to confusion and finally landing on something akin to determination.

Swallowing my nerves, I try to think of something to say, I need a reason for being here. "Hey Lynn, funny you should be here, I was j-just here to g-get uh something t-to eat. " I stutter out, watching as she reverts to looking confused.

"This is a soup kitchen Lincoln? Why would you be coming here for food?" Lynn questions me, she had a point, why would I be coming here for food? Opening my mouth to answer with some half-baked excuse, I was cut off by a voice that speaks up from behind me.

"Hey kid, what's the hold-up, some of us need to eat you know." A gruff voice with a hint of anger complains to the chorus of agreement from the other people in line.

Looking at Lynn, I shrug my shoulders and give her a look that says that we shouldn't have this conversation right now.

Getting what I'm trying to convey Lynn responds with "Fine Lincoln, I will be done in twenty minutes and then I will be coming for answers." She fills my bowl with soup, Soup that I'm probably not going to eat now on the account of my lost appetite.

As a sick feeling settles in my stomach, I now realize how unlucky I am. The one day I decide to come to a soup kitchen just so happened to be the day that one of the Loud sisters was working here.

I know that I said fate had it in for me in the past as a joke but now I really do think that a supernatural force is conspiring against me or something.

Sitting down at a table that was facing where Lynn was handing out the soup, I start to stir the food around the bowl. The table had no one sitting down at it, this gave me a little break.

I was kind of thankful for the people in the line behind me for throwing a fuss, it gave me time to think up an excuse of me being here. Looking at the situation at hand, I just know this isn't going to end well for me.

And even if I come up with a lie there is no guaranteeing that Lynn will accept the answer I provide.

I just hope that she does, or else I'm screwed. I sit and ponder my thoughts, trying to think of any out as the soup in my bowl is slowly pushed around by the spoon in my hand.

As the twenty-minute mark was coming up, I feel a plan begin to formulate in my head, if she believes the lie am I going to tell her I might be cast in a slightly bad light but it was definitely better than the alternative of Lynn finding out the truth.

Lynn took an extra five minutes to be done, every minute that passed by just added to the nerves that I was feeling.

I could run, I should just run out of here and not face this but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I really don't want to lose the best thing going for me right and if that means trying to lie myself out of this situation than so be it.

Hearing the chair in front of me being dragged out across the ground creating a horrible screeching noise as it goes, kind of setting the mood of the conversation to come, I look up and see Lynn plop herself down in the chair.

Lynn Looks down at the food in front of me and notices that I haven't taken a single bite of it, she raises an eyebrow at this before shaking her head and looks at me.

Not wanting to be the first to speak, I wait for her to take the lead in the conversation. The silence between us stretched out, it seemed that she didn't want to speak first either.

After a few more seconds of silence, it was Lynn who broke first.

"Lincoln, what's going on here? Why are you coming to a soup kitchen of all places to eat?" Lynn asks bringing up two very good points straight away.

Well, here goes nothing, it's time to see if I am good as a liar as I think I am.

"Lynn I don't know how to put this" I start off," you see the thing is I don't come from a very financially stable family and sometimes when we fall on hard times I come here to ease up on the financial strain." I lie through the skin of my teeth, ignoring the guilt building up from inside of me.

It wasn't one of my best lies but come on, I only had twenty minutes to come up with it. I watch Lynn trying to see if my lie was believed or not. Her expression was one of thinking, probably analyzing what I just said.

The silence was palpable, I can't remember the last time I felt this uncomfortable talking to someone, I was just about to say something to break the unbearable silence when Lynn hums to herself apparently coming upon a conclusion.

"I guess that's why you never really had any money," Lynn mumbles to herself.

The words cause me to involuntary cringe, the guilt inside me getting worse, not only am I lying to her now but now I am also reminded of how I have been taking advantage of not just her kindness but her sister's kindness as well.

Not knowing what to say, I just let out a meek "yeah" at her statement.

At least it seemed that she was slowly starting to believe me, I might be able to get away with this.

"You shouldn't have to do that Lincoln," Lynn says softly while grabbing my hand from across the table.

"I know, it's just that I feel am partly to blame, so I try to help in any way I can. " I lie easily, damn this feels so bad, I promise to myself that one day I will tell her and the others the truth but right now I need to stick to doing this.

Lynn suddenly stands up the chair making the screeching noise as it goes, causing the people around us to throw dirty looks in our direction at the sudden noise.

"Come Lincoln, Let's go get something proper to eat," she says to me while holding out her hand to drag me out of my chair.

"What? No Lynn, I'm fine eating this" I gesture to the cold soup in front of me, "I've already taken advantage of your generosity enough." I wave her hand away while picking up my spoon.

"Lincoln" Lynn grabs my attention again making me look at her. I was met with the puppy dog look that she and her sisters have been using on me to get me to do things that I don't want to do but it's not going work now, I won't give in that easy.

"That's not going to work Lynn" I state.

Lynn shows no sign of giving up though and after a few moments, I find myself giving in.

"Fine, fine I'll come just stop with that look" I concede, god-damn that look.

Lynn's face reverts to normal while exclaiming "Works every time." She throws her arm in the air like she just scored a goal at a soccer game.

"I swear, one day that won't work on me" I grumble out while Lynn just laughs.

"The last one outside is a rotten egg" Lynn suddenly says, turning quickly, Lynn starts to speed towards the exit.

I just stand there and stare at her as she goes, Looking down at the table, I pick up my bowl and head to the bin to throw it away and I start to walk out the door on to the cold street. I meet Lynn who is standing there with a grin.

"Looks like I won, no surprise there" She cheers and begins to do the same dance that she did at the carnival. I just stand there and applaud her on her minor victory over me, I think she is trying to lighten the mood. She stops dancing and turns to me.

"Before we go get something to eat, I have to go pick up Lisa from her ceramic art class, I hope you don't mind" Lynn explains, I shake my head and follow Lynn as she starts leading the way to the art studio.

Lisa? I rake my memory to remember which loud sister she was, I think she was the young one with glasses but I'm not too sure.

* * *

Apparently, the art studio was close by as we arrived in no time, I guess that's why Lynn was in charge of picking her up.

My suspicions were confirmed when I see the young loud waddle out of the art studio with an angry look on her face.

"Never again older sibling unit, I reluct to associate with those individuals again. I am above such things such as craftsmanship and painting." Lisa complains while throwing her arms out wide not paying me any attention.

"Come on Lis, it couldn't have been that bad, some of us got worse. I wouldn't want to be Lana right now" Lynn says while letting out a little shiver. Huh, I wonder what Lana had to do.

"I surmise your right, at any rate, there's no utilization in repining now." Lisa grumbles out before turning to me to say, "Hello Lincoln, It is nice to optically discern you again."

"It's, uh nice to optically discern you too?" I respond a bit confused, I am really struggling to understand a lot of what Lisa is saying.

"Anyway Sis, me and Lincoln" Lynn starts to say only to be interrupted by the young Loud who corrects her with " Lincoln and I". Lynn Ignores her and continued to talk" were about to go to get something to eat, you want to come?" Lynn asks her.

"Well I am somewhat ravenous, so I could utilize something to victual" Lisa response with a little shoulder shrug.

"Great, follow me," Lynn says and starts to walk in a random direction with Lisa walking beside her complaining about the 'plight' she had to endure, Lynn seemed to know where she was going, so I just shut off my brain and begin to think.

I think Lynn believed my story because if she didn't I'm screwed. There is no way I could convince her not to get Child Protective Services involved if she found out the truth, from what I can tell Lynn is a good person, she will probably want to do a good thing and that would be a problem for me.

As we strolled to where Lynn wanted to go, the two sisters broke away from me and started to talk amongst themselves, I couldn't make out what they were saying but I had a feeling it was about me because every once in a while they would look back.

Lynn was probably telling Lisa about what happened. This put me on edge, while I think Lynn believed me, I also think that Lisa is smart for age and I don't mean normal smart. It was scary just the level of intelligence she was displaying if Lynn tries to dive further into my story Lisa might be able to start poking holes in it. I will have to be more careful from here on out with what I say.

They continued to talk with each other until we came upon the place Lynn had in mind, it looked like a nice restaurant albeit small, judging by the Chinese writing on the building I would say it serves Asian food.

We head inside and find a table to sit at. Two of the sisters sat beside each other and I sat opposite them.

I immediately pick up the menu trying to stall talking to the sisters. I scan the menu looking for the cheapest thing on there, which seemed to be a salad. "Can I take your order?" He asks us while looking at Lynn first. Who responds with, " Yeah, me and him will be having the egg fried rice with beef curry." Lisa grumbles out another correction but I wasn't paying attention to her.

I was stunned, Lynn just ordered for me, did she know I was going to order something cheap, am I that readable. I hope not, or she might have seen through my lies earlier.

While I panic internally, Lisa orders for herself, I didn't understand what she ordered but the waiter seemed to nod at her words.

The waiter leaves and Lynn just smiles at me. "So, tell us about your family?" She asks me while we wait for our food to arrive.

I should have expected this really, the longer I intended to hang out with these girls the more curious they were going to get.

Caught off guard, I try to formulate some kind of answer that will help to ease her suspicions and fool Lisa as well.

"Well, uh I'm an only child, it gets quite lonely sometimes." I start of the lie with a little bit of truth, "My parents wer- are great, They are some of the kindest people in the world, They went out of their way to make sure I had everything I needed and even though we didn't have much we were happy." I say thinking back on the happy memories I had of them.

"They sound nice," Lynn says in reply but that's not what caught my attention.

Lisa was staring at the food that was placed in front of us while I was talking, she looked as if she was in deep thought. I wonder what she is thinking about.

I think back on what I said and I realise something, I started to talk in the past tense, Lisa defiantly didn't miss this. God, I am such an idiot, hopefully, she doesn't think too deep into this.

We eat in silence for a few minutes before Lynn asks me another question, "Hey Lincoln where do you go to school?"

This question was hard for me because I never went to a normal school, my only experience with education was when I was homed schooled by 'him'.

Too bad I can't say I was homeschooled now though, it would be weird for my parents to be hard workers and still have time to home school me. Lisa will definitely pick up on this if I say that.

This leaves in a predicament as I don't know many schools in the area.

Feeling the pressure mounting to answer I blurt out "Royal Woods Elementary School."

"Weird, I never saw you there when I went there" was Lynn says to herself. Cringing I think to myself that this is not going well, If I keep this up then Lisa is defiantly going to know I'm lying.

Looking at her I see that she is rubbing her chin in thought, this makes me sweat a little.

"That's because I-I alw-ays tried to uh not st-and out." I stutter out hoping that they take that answer.

Lynn seemed to take it but Lisa eyeballs me from across the table. The rest of the meal is not going to be fun.

* * *

I was right the rest of the meal was not fun.

It continued with Lynn asking questions about me.

Some questions were nonintrusive such as "What is your favourite colour?" or "What kind of games do you like?" while other questions were obviously intended to get more information out of me for instance, "Where do you live?" and "When is your birthday?"

It was grueling trying to come with lies to her questions while putting in the effort not to give much information away. Every answer was met with a questioning look or a content nod. The questioning Look always came from Lisa.

I feel like my every move was being analyzed. Lisa was a smart person, I could tell, even at her young age, I can feel her eyes inspect me as she sits there silently.

I was the first to finish my meal, I didn't have time to enjoy it as the worry and guilt that was building up inside of me was too distracting.

After a few minutes of them silently munching on their food, I finally decided I have had enough of this.

I stand up quickly and declare to them "I got to go."

"What, why?" Lynn immediately responds with a question.

"Ah, uh my p-arents wi-will be expecting me." I quickly lie before turning and making my way towards the exit and on to the street.

As I get a few streets away from the restaurant, I get the feeling like I'm being followed. Casting my gaze around I catch a glimpse of a red jersey and green sweater duck behind the last corner I just came from.

Damn it, Lisa probably didn't believe anything I said and now she has convinced Lynn to follow me to see if I was telling the truth. This is bad.

As I round another corner I change my walk into a quick jog, swiftly making my way to the other end of the street, as I go, I duck and dive in between people. This was a skill I developed over time while on the streets.

Not showing any signs of slowing down I barrel into a couple of side streets, from behind me, I can hear shouts of indignation from the people I just passed. That tells me that I am still being followed.

I can lose them in these back streets, while I may not know them off by heart I do know them well-enough that shaking people off my trail should be easy.

I get around five side streets in when I decide that I have probably lost them. I also have to stop due to a fire in my chest, running on a full stomach is not something that I am familiar with doing.

Pressing my back against the wall, I slide down, feeling the irregular surface of the wall scratch at my back all the way down. I take some time to catch my breath.

I glance around the alley, it didn't look that different from any other alley, I guess it would do for me to sleep here tonight.

I stand up and start rooting through my bag, I begin to pull out the stuff I need to sleep, as I do this I hear a noise from behind me.

Fear rushes through my body if Lynn and Lisa see me like this all of my lies will go out the window. Turning quickly, I get no time to react as a hand is pressed up against my mouth shoving me harshly into the wall behind me.

My vision flashes black and white, damn that's going to bruise.

Opening my eyes I see two figures in front of me, both wearing masks obscuring their face, I try to push against the figure in front of me but stop when I feel a cold sharp object press against my throat.

Letting out an involuntary whimper I am immediately silenced by the man holding me.

"Don't make a fucking sound, boy" The figure sneers, "We wouldn't want you getting hurt now would we."

How has this day gone from bad to worse, I really wish now that it was Lynn and Lisa who found me here.

"Check the bag." the guy holding me growls out the order to the one standing behind him, who promptly grabs my bag and starts to pull stuff out of it.

My heart sinks at every item that hits the ground, It was painful watching as all I have ever own being thrown around without a care in the world.

"There's nothing in here." The guy fumes as he gets to the bottoming of the bag, "This is a fucking bust."

"Fucking useless piece of shit aren't you." The man holding me replies, well I'm sorry for not having anything good for you to steal.

I try to push against him again, this causes him to move his hand from my mouth down to cusp my shirt.

"What's this?" the man murmurs to himself as he feels around the top of my shirt, it took me a few seconds to realise what he was talking about and once I did I begin to struggle a lot more.

Not my necklace, it was the only thing I have that reminds me of them, I can't let them take it.

"Shit, I said don't fucking move kid." the guy growls out again while moving the knife from my throat.

Pain bursts in my shoulder as the sharp weapon slides through the skin like butter, blood quickly squeezing its way through the wound. I yell out in pain only to be silenced by the other guy who sweeps up and puts his hand on my mouth.

I feel a hand wrap around my necklace and with a hard yank that caused a little bit of pain to shoot through my neck, the necklace came off.

Holding it up to his eye, the guy with the knife begins to inspect it, "hmm, I could probably get a couple of dollars out of this, it's not what we wanted but it's something." Pocketing it he turns back to me and the person holding me.

"What do we do with him?" The guy holding me asks while gesturing to me with his head.

"Eh, knock him out or something, it doesn't matter." The guy with the knife says with a relaxed voice.

I try to protest but before I could an immense pressure explodes on the side of my head

I fall to the ground with a thud, with all my might I try to keep my eyes open watching as the pair of legs walk away from me with the only item that ever meant anything to me.

The world starts to get fuzzy and darkness soon fills my vision.


	8. Bleeding Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out sleeping out in the cold with an open cut is not good for you.

Throbbing is the only way to describe the pain radiating from my shoulder as my conscious is forcefully dragged back to the world of the living.

The events of what happened start to sink in.

Letting out a little groan, I begin to crack my eyes open letting the light of the day flood in. Opening them fully, I notice that the ground is covered in a layer of white powder marking the first snowfall of the winter months.

Shifting into a sitting position, I slowly brush the snow off of me with my left arm being careful to avoiding moving my right one too much in fear of pain.

I can't believe I let those guys sneak up on me, I must be getting sloppy, any more mistakes like that and I will probably wind up dead.

Cursing to myself I scan the area around me and take notice of all my stuff strewn across the alley, all my worldly possessions just thrown on the ground like trash. I can't even muster enough energy to mad at this.

Sitting in the cold, a void of emotion is settling around my core as I remember the one thing they did take, the one thing that meant anything to me. They say home is where the heart is, that it is not a building. That necklace was my home, my one bastion of happiness in the shit storm that was my life.

Taking a deep breath, I was caught off guard when a coughing fit surges its way up and out my mouth causing me to hunch over. My body is racked with cough after cough only dying down around five coughs in.

Great, I'm sick, just what I didn't need. While being sick for anyone sucks, for people on the streets it's a matter of life and death for many reasons. The main one is being too sick and weak to defend yourself which makes you an easy target for anyone who would gladly take everything you own, though it was not like I have anything to take any more.

Sighing to myself, I decide that I should make a trip to the drug store to see if I can't 'pick up' a few items that might help to ease the pain in my shoulder and in my throat. Standing up I brace myself against the wall beside me, watching as the world spins around me.

Looking down at the area I was lying in, I see my vague outline on the ground alongside dry blood stains where my shoulder was. Casting my gaze away from the sad scene, I survey my belongings that litter the alleyway looking for one thing in particular. Spying it a couple steps away, my feet move on their own stumbling towards it, trying not to trip with all my effort.

As I get to the item, I pick it up with my left hand and shake off the snow that was stuck to it. After a few shakes, the familiar colour of the jacket that Leni bought for me however long ago is revealed.

This will probably be enough to cover the slash in my jumper, twisting my head towards said slash, I wince when I see the dry blood that has soaked into my jumper and presumably the underneath t-shirt as well.

Not wanting to see the damage just yet, I slip into my jacket that was just as wet on the inside as it was on the outside causing me to shiver.

I pull the zipper up letting the cold sink further into my bones.

Gathering up my belongings from the ground, I stuff them back into my bag taking care not to damage them, well, damage them more than they were. Slinging the bag onto my undamaged shoulder, I cough into my hand before making my way out onto the street.

Once I reach the exit I see people rushing to and from stores, probably getting their Christmas shopping done early. I feel a headache forming in my head and a wave of nausea swells up from up inside of me. God, I need to get to that drug store and quickly.

Making my way towards the store I occasionally bump into people receiving angry comments and threats from the ones who had the misfortune to run into me. If I was in my right mind I would be sticking my hand in these people's pockets as I collide with them, searching for anything valuable but I can barely walk straight let alone steal something.

Trudging through the snow, I try to ignore the feeling of snow make it's way into my shoes, shaking my head I catch a glimpse of myself in a storefront window.

To say I look alright would be a lie because honestly, I look like shit. My skin was pale white, almost as white as the snow around me or white as the hair on my head, that can't be healthy. Bloodshot is the only way to describe my eyes as the surrounding veins seem to be more pronounced due to the aforementioned whiteness of my skin. The clothes I am wearing don't look to be holding up that well, patches of dirt and wetness litter the outfit really giving me a rough look.

Letting out a pained moan, I drag my eyes away from the window and start to get back on track, coughing as I go.

I don't know how long it took me to find the drug store as keeping track of the time has been getting harder as the day continued on.

It was a small store, its most noticeable feature being a neon sign that was hanging in the window that made me wince every time it flicked on. There weren't many people going in and out which gives me a good opportunity to get in and out with some stuff without getting caught.

Stumbling through the door, I hear a bell ring as it opens. Looking around, there were three aisles all lined with various items that blended with each other. The three aisles all lead up to a counter on the opposite side of the store from the door. I can't see a cashier from where I am but it's a safe bet to assume one is there.

I can hear voices coming from one of the aisles but I ignore them, trying to focus on the task at hand.

I dive into the first aisle and begin to look for something that may ease the headache running rampant in my head or maybe some disinfectant and bandages to wrap around my shoulder.

After quickly scanning the shelves, I see nothing of use, there mostly was toothpaste and sanitary products and some things that I didn't even recognize.

While doing this I was throwing glances around to see if any cameras in the store, I would be more stealthy doing this but I couldn't bring myself to care enough to try.

Getting to the end of the aisle, I walk around into the second one and repeat the process of looking for the items I need, swiftly making my way through the aisle not finding anything of use.

That leaves the third one, of course, it would be the last aisle I would decide to look in that would have the stuff I need.

Entering the aisle I look at the shelves and start to scan them, taking side steps as I go. Getting halfway through, I spot pain killers on the top shelf.

Standing on my tippy toes I try to reach up with my left hand.

As I am doing this a voice suddenly shouts "HEY CATCH", I look towards the source but before I could see where it came from I was knocked off-balance by someone crashing into me.

The person knocked me down onto my hurt shoulder causing me to bite down on my tongue to avoid screaming out in pain. Shutting my eyes I try to block out the ache in my head that exploded with pain as soon as I hit the ground.

"Jeez, Lana, You know mom will kill us if we got banned from here as well." The person on top of me says.

Why do I recognize that voice? God, please no, don't let it be one of them. I really don't need to see one of the Loud sisters right now.

"Hey, sorry for knocking you off your feet, I have that effec- wait, Lincoln?" The voice says.

"Are you Ok?" Another voice joins in.

"Ow, Yeah, I'm peachy" I croak out rolling off my injured shoulder onto my back. Opening my eyes I see Luan standing there with Lana standing behind her.

Luan extends her arm towards me. I grab it and she pulls me to my feet.

"Hey, you were supposed to come over yesterday, what happened?" She asks me once I steady myself on my two feet.

Yesterday? They only asked me to come over yesterday, didn't they? Don't tell me I slept through an entire day because If I did then I need to come up with another lie for why I didn't visit them yesterday also I need to stop telling them that I will come over, It seems to be a bad omen or something.

"Sorry, I wasn't feeling well yesterday, I didn't want to get any of you guys sick" I quickly lie off the top of my head.

"Oh, that makes sense, I hope you are doing better today," Luan says while Lana comes up behind her from where she was.

"Woah Lincoln, you don't look so good." Lana points out causing Luan to scan me with her eyes.

"Lans is right Linc, you don't look too hot." She says reaching my eyes after she was done scanning me.

"What? I feel totally fine, I couldn't be any bett-" I try to say but halfway through my sentence a cough erupts from my throat. Bringing up my hand to block my mouth, I start to hack up a lung definitely indicating that I was not okay, god-damn it.

"You sure about that Linc, it looks like you are barely standing right now" Lana informs me as my coughing fit comes to end.

Now that she said it, the world did seem to sway from side to side and my eyelids do feel like they are getting heavier.

"I feel like you should be in bed, what are you even do here anyway?" Luan asks with concern lacing her tone.

"What are you doing here?" I counter like I was some child who was caught with their hand in a cookie jar. Luan raises her eyebrows at what I say but answers anyway.

"We are here to get something for Lucy who for some reason decided to stand out in the rain and 'Ponder her thoughts', whatever that means and now she is sick. Apparently, someone inspired her to start doing that again." Luan explains.

I cringe slightly, I really hope I wasn't the person who inspired her to do that but something told me that it was.

"So, why are you here?" Lana asks the same question Luan did, damn, I thought I avoided that.

"Uh, my parents are a bit to busy to take care of me?" The reply came out like I was asking myself instead of answering her question, I really don't have a good reason to be out here right now, especially like this.

I see a look of confusion on both of their faces. Yeah, I admit that really wasn't my best excuse and really doesn't cast my fictional parents in a good light. Maybe if I was feeling better I would have told a better lie.

Feeling a bit more unsteady I carefully lean my left arm on the wall of the store.

"Should you be alone right now? I don't think that is a good idea, judging by the looks of it " Luan says with concern.

"I'm fine, I just need to get some medicine and head home," and by head home I mean find an empty alley, patch up my shoulder, take whatever pills I steal, go to sleep and hope I don't die.

"Look at yourself Lincoln, you can barely stand, how are you even going to get home?" Luan questions me.

"I can walk it" I answer trying to get this conversation over with, if this goes on any longer I think I am going to pass out, and I really don't want to do that in front of them.

"Hey, why don't you come to our house, we can take care of you," Lana speaks up from somewhere, I really can't be bothered to look at her right now.

WAIT, what did she just say.

"Well, I guess it would be irresponsible of me to let you be by yourself while looking likes this," Luan says while gesturing to all of me.

"I don't think that would be necessary, I have taken care of myself before, I can do it again." I try to wave off their offer and concern.

What I said was true though, I have been living on the streets for two years all by myself, over the years I have learned a trick or two on how to get by while being sick or injured, that being said I was never this sick or injured at the same time before.

"Yeah but now you have us to look after you, come on," Lana says as I feel someone grab my right hand and start pulling me towards the exit of the building, I once again force myself to bite down on my tongue as not to yelp in pain.

I try to protest but I just didn't have the energy to do so.

I stumble along trying to keep up the surprisingly strong Lana as she drags me towards a giant van. Nerves suddenly attack my weaken body, I never had good experiences with cars or any form of vehicle and while I can travel in them it's never a pleasant experience.

Lana opens the door of the van and shoves me into the seat. Looking at the driver's seat I see from what I could tell was a girl slightly older the Luan who had blond hair, what was her name again, I think it might be Lori.

"Lana, you and Luan were supposed to be getting medicine for Lucy, not bringing home people," Lori complains from the front of the van.

"Chill, Lori, he is sick, and we are going to take care of him," Lana explains while getting in the seat next to me followed by Luan who took the seat adjacent to the opposite window.

"And why are we going to take care of him, shouldn't he have someone looking after him anyway," Lori says while starting the engine and pulling out on to the road.

"Nah, his parents are busy or something," Luan tells her.

Why are they talking about me like I'm not even here, I can totally talk for myself, is this what a child feels like when a parent talks about them?

Obviously not being involved in the conversation I lean my head back on the seat and try to ignore the anxious feeling of being in a moving vehicle. I try to lose myself in the vibration of the van letting it soothe me and before I knew it, I was drifting in and out of consciousness.

* * *

"Hey Lincoln, come on wake up." I feel someone shoving my shoulder, damn that hurts.

Opening my eyes, I see the back seat of the Louds van. Not wanting to move, feeling oddly comfortable in the seat, I let out a small grumble and try to turn away from the disturbance.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to carry you." The words send alarms through my head, and I was just about to get up but before I could, I feel a pair of arms wrap around my back and under my legs and I feel myself leaving the car seat.

"Jesus Linc, How light are you?" The person sounds surprised. Ignoring them, I cuddle more into the body, I hate to admit it but the warmth coming from them was nice and comforting.

I can't remember the last time I felt safe like this, As if every problem I have in the world had just disappeared and now I am floating on a warm cloud, I wish that this could last forever but before I knew it I was deposited on to the soft surface of what I guess was their couch.

Looking up I see it was Luan who had carried me from the car to here, another thing I got to thank her for.

I then notice some footsteps coming down the stairs accompanied a voice.

"Hey Luan, did you get the meds? Lucy is driving me up the wall." Lynn complains as she reaches the bottom of the stairs

"Oh, we got it." Lana responds instead of Luan before she shouts, "GO LONG," flinging the medicine over me and to Lynn.

The shout causes me to cringe just a little bit not being used to the volume.

"Lana, can you keep it down, I think Lincoln has got a pain in his head," Luan says probably seeing the pained expression on my face. She brings a cool hand to my forehead which was kind of soothing.

"Lincoln? What the hell is he doing here?" Lynn asks with confusion.

"We found him at the drug store, he was about to keel over," Lana explains from somewhere behind the couch.

Lynn moves from the bottom of the stairs and comes into view, I watch as her eyebrows rise to the top of her head, "Jesus, he looks like shit, what happened to him?" she says after a few seconds of silence.

I am so loving the constant reminders of how bad I look, it is doing wonders for my confidence.

"Don't know, it looks like the flu is really hitting him hard. Lana, can you go get a pillow and a blanket for him?" Luan asks her while pointing at me.

"Sure." Was Lana's quick response before she bounds up the stairs.

Turning to me, I feel Luan's eyes scan me.

"How about we get that jacket off?" She says while making her way towards the jacket zipper.

With a rush of panic, I quickly push her hand away before she could reach the jacket, "No, no I want to keep it on please." I beg her not to remove it, I can't let them see the cut on my shoulder, it would bring up so many questions that I wouldn't be able to answer.

A bit shocked at my strong reaction, Luan just nods, fortunately, Lana comes back breaking up the awkwardness of the atmosphere that suddenly filled the room.

"Got them!" She exclaims while holding up the items like a trophy.

Handing them to Luan, I sit up and feel a pillow being put behind me before I lay back down, then came the blanket wrapping me in warmth.

I got to admit that this totally beats what I had planned for the day, this beats sitting in a cold alley while cleaning my wound coughing up a storm.

The warmth was intoxicating and was enticing me to fall asleep, I try to fight it, I try to stay awake and hear the conversation that was going on around me but it was a losing battle and before I knew it I was out like a light.

* * *

I wake up to the feeling up to the rare feeling of warmth, I could get used to this.

I don't know how long I slept for, it was one of the many disorientating things about sleeping during the day.

I hear something being placed on the coffee table beside me. I open my eyes I see a bowl of what seemed to be soup, what kind, I couldn't place but it smelt great.

Getting up into a sitting position I see which one of the sisters put it there and to my surprise it was Lori.

"This is for you, I made some for Lucy and had some leftover," Lori explains while crossing her arms.

"Thank you," I reply, grabbing the bowl and pulling it towards myself. Picking up the spoon, I dip it to the soup and pull it out. Blowing on the soup on the spoon, I shovel the food into my mouth. As I Haven't eaten for two days only makes the soup taste that much better.

Expecting Lori to have left, I look up to see that she was still standing there while staring at me intently, like she was trying to figure something out. Suddenly she starts to talk.

"Look Lincoln, can we talk for a few seconds?" she asks me as the question but something tells me that this talk was going to happen no matter what answer I give.

Looking down, I plop the spoon back into the bowl and begin to swirl it around, "Talk about what?" I question with a bit of nerves.

"Just a few things that I literally need to find out," Lori replies to me before walking around the coffee table and taking a seat on the edge of the couch.

"Lincoln, some of my sisters have really taken a liking to you for some reason and as their older sister I need to know that you won't harm them in any way." I look up from the bowl into her eyes that had a serious edge to them.

Harm them? I would never intentionally harm them, not if I could help it.

"Lori, I would never do anything to harm them intentionally." I convey what I was just thinking.

"I don't know Lincoln, I feel like there is something that you are keeping from them, something that could hurt them." The words make me begin to sweat, while it was true that I was keeping a lot of secrets from them, I thought I was doing a good job of keeping it under wraps. Lori's gaze becomes even more piercing, it was as if she was reading my very thoughts.

"What? No, I am not keeping any secrets that could hurt them, what makes you say that?" I say meekly, I am not feeling well enough for this, if I was not sick then maybe I could put up a better defense.

"Nothing makes me say it, I am just warning you Lincoln if any harm was to come to anyone of my sisters, then I will hunt you down and turn you into a human pretzel." Lori threatens, what the hell was a human pretzel? Not wanting to find out, I just nod my head.

"I promise you that I won't hurt any of them," I say quickly hoping that it would end this uncomfortable conversation.

"You better not." As the words leave her mouth she squeezes her hand on my shoulder, what was probably meant as a warning that was meant to scare me causes the wound on my shoulder to open.

I could feel the skin separate, shooting pain across that area of my body.

Steeling my expression I wait for Lori to stand up and leave, heading to the kitchen.

I clench my teeth and blow air out through my mouth. I need to find a bathroom and fast.

Leaning forward, I place the bowl on the coffee table ignoring the pain that this caused before I take the blanket off of me.

If this house was like any other than the bathroom would be up the stairs.

I stand up and make my way towards the stairs trying my best not to disturb Lori who sounded like she was talking to someone and judging by the lack of responses to her talking, I think she was on the phone.

Climbing the stairs, I hear noises coming from above, once I reach the top I notice that the noises were coming from various doors in the hall.

Looking to the left I see an open door that frames a toilet on the other side, thanking God for this, I quietly make my way towards the bathroom.

Reaching the room, I close the door behind me before turning around and heading towards the sink. I feel like I was forgetting something but I shake it off.

Looking at myself in the mirror I try to not to pick out every detail that makes me look like shit as it would take forever, instead I start to take off my jacket that has red splotches appearing on it.

Once it was off, the jumper quickly follows it, leaving me in my t-shirt.

Rolling up my sleeve, I cringe at what I see, most of the shoulder was covered in dry blood that was mixing with the fresh blood that leaked from the cut.

This is bad, this is terrible. I had been injured before but never this bad, a few cuts and scrapes here and there but nothing that cut this deep.

I reach out to turn on the tap but my hand stops half-way when I hear a noise from behind me.

The noise was the rattling of the doorknob which turns causing the door to open to reveal Luna. Shocked I watch as she walks in swinging the door behind her.

That's when she sees me, her shocked eyes going from my face then down to my shoulder.

The silence was suffocating.

I knew I forgot to do something, I forgot to lock the bathroom door.


	9. Little Bathroom Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Long can he keep this up?

The reaction from Luna was immediate, her mouth opens into an O shape, matching how wide her eyes have gone. I have a feeling that my reaction perfectly matches hers as I stand here with blood running down my T-shirt.

Luna tries to splutter out some words in shock, obviously trying to make out the situation that was happening in front of her. "Jesus Christ, Lincoln, you 're bleeding!" Luna says with panic lacing her tone, "We need to get you to the hospital dude."

Shock fills my system, not the hospital, I can't go to the hospital. If I go there then it is over for me, they will find out that I have no parents and then Child Protective Services will get involved and once that happens then I will be dragged back to 'him'.

Going back to him is not an option, it's the one reason I am keeping these secrets!

"NO! Luna, please, no hospitals." I beg her, raising my good hand in her direction.

Man, I most look like a sorry case, begging her while standing in her bathroom bleeding all over the place, is there any possible way that I can sink any lower? Ever since I met the Louds, they have been seeing me worsening situations, from eating in a soup kitchen to now this, can it get any worse?

"Lincoln take a look at yourself dude, that looks like it really hurts," she responds while gesturing to my shoulder.

It did hurt, to be honest, but there is no way I'm telling Luna that, she would definitely drag me to the hospital.

"Look, Luna, I can't go to the hospital please, I just CAN'T, please don't make me." I look down watching as drop after drop of blood hits the ground hoping my insistence gets through to her.

Seeming to realize that I wasn't going to budge on the matter and probably thinking that she should probably help me instead of arguing right now, Luna's face looks to be having an internal war with herself.

Suddenly the situation seems to sink into her as she quickly approaches grabbing my left hand before guiding me towards the toilet and pushing me into a sitting position with a quick "Sit."

Doing as she says, I swiftly sit on the toilet, wrapping my good arm around myself. Not knowing what to do, I just watch as she dives into the bathroom sink obviously looking for something.

She has seemed to have dropped the hospital thing for now thankfully, I don't know what I would have done if she tried and drag me there, I would probably have run.

Feeling myself calm down, the pain in my shoulder return in force.

I lean forward letting out a hissing noise, I notice that as I do this, Luna looks back at me for a second with worry before going back to what she was doing, picking up speed as she does.

A painful minute passes before she turns around with a few items in her hands, once her eyes connect with my shoulder, I see her cringe. Judging by her look, I could see that she was not really used to doing something like this, and why would she? Not many people have much experience in dealing with knife wounds.

She shakes her head and steals her expression before taking the steps towards me.

As she gets to me, she Kneels down in front of me to be more on my level. Depositing the items on to the ground beside her, Luna's eyebrows furrow as she grabs the disinfectant. I see what she is about to do and quickly speak up.

"No, Luna, you need to stop the bleeding first," I explain to her while leaning back. I hear her stop moving for a second, drawing my attention towards her, I see that Luna was giving me a surprised look, tilting her head as she does.

"How the hell do you know that?" She asks as she picks up a flannel beside her. She straightens herself up to reach the bleeding and puts it right on my shoulder.

Feeling the flannel come into contact with my shoulder causes me to wince a little, not wanting Luna to see me do this I Look to the left a little before thinking of a response.

"Oh, uh, I had a few cuts and scrapes and had to clean them myself, you learn a few things after a while," I answer not delving into the specifics.

She looks like she wants to ask more but one look at my shoulder stopped any words that she was going to say.

I think she accepts the answer but I have the feeling that she doesn't really believe it.

The silence drags on for a few minutes with Luna lifting the flannel every once in a while to check if the bleeding has stopped.

"What happened to you?" She asks out of nowhere catching me off guard.

Of course, she would get curious about how something like this happened, and why shouldn't she? I am in her bathroom bleeding out, while she uses her medical supplies to patch up a serious cut, she has every right to want to know what happened.

I should tell her some of the truth on this one, she deserves some truth for what she is doing right now and well, it also might lessen the guilt I feel for lying all the time, but something tells me it wouldn't.

"I was jumped by two guys on my way home yesterday" I start saying, ignoring the concerned look Luna gives me, "I didn't have anything on me, so they got a bit angry," I tell her the truth, well half-truth, about what happened.

"And you didn't go to the police? Why would you try to hide something like this?" Luna asks the two questions with confusion, they were two very good questions, two questions that I have no answer for.

I had no good reason not to go to the police and I had no real excuse of why I would hide something this bad.

God damn it. Trying to think of a way out, I notice the bleeding in my shoulder has finally stopped, I swear I have lost way too much blood for my liking.

"Hey, uh, Luna the bleeding has stopped, you are going to want to clean the cut now," I explain as a way to distract from the question.

Either noticing my unwillingness to answer the question or being genuinely distracted by my instructions, Luna pulls the flannel away and stands up to go and grab another one before running it under the tap. Returning, she takes up her previous position before she begins to dab at the dry blood around the hurt area.

"How did this start? It wasn't bleeding when I came to check on you earlier, I think I would have noticed something like this." She says while staring intently at what she was doing.

I probably shouldn't say that her sister threaten me and accidentally opened the cut while trying to enforce what she said, that would just cause an unnecessary fight that I don't want to be a cause of.

Also, did she say she checked on me earlier? Why would she do that? Perhaps I should stop asking questions I am never going to get the answer to.

Instead, I think up of something I could tell her.

"Uh, Lori made me some soup and while I was eating it, I uh started to cough, so she um put her hand on my shoulder to steady me." I slightly bend the events to put Lori in a better light, she was only looking out for her sisters after all. I can't fault her for that, I would do the same in her situation, to be honest.

"And you didn't decide to tell her that this had happened?" Luna briefly stops cleaning the wound to point at the cut.

"I didn't think it was that bad," I say with an unsure tone.

"Not that bad? Not that bad! Dude, just by looking at it I can tell that it is hurting like hell. How would you think that it wasn't that bad? I know people who would be crying in pain right now!" Luna exclaims, catching me off guard as her volume picks up a bit.

"I don't know Luna, I thought I could handle it, I usually do," I mutter the sentence out.

"What do you mean by that?" Luna questions with a serious tone.

Shit! Shit, god-damn it. I really need to shut up sometimes, Luna wasn't looking at me but I could tell she was waiting for an answer. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see that the cut still had some blood on it, so I couldn't use it as a distraction again.

Taking a deep breath, I start to lie through the skin of my teeth.

"Did Lynn tell you about my parents?" I ask her.

Luna nods before adding, "She said that they weren't around often or something like that."

"Exactly, my parents are busy people and I don't see them often, so when I get injured doing something dumb I usually have to deal with it by myself," I explain to her, hoping she takes the answer because I don't know what I would do if she didn't.

It was silent for a few seconds, I could start to feel my heart begin to hammer in my chest waiting for her to say something.

"You shouldn't have to Lincoln." She replies softly after a while, I was taken aback, that was the exact same thing Lynn said to me in the soup kitchen.

Why do these girls care so god-damn much? It makes no sense, I have only known them for such a short amount of time and all I have done is take and take from them, and they never seem to mind, it just confuses me why they are willing to do so much for me. I'm not really worth it, I am just a homeless kid who eats the shit out of garbage cans in dark alleyways and sleeps out in the cold while these girls are talented people who will achieve much more than I could ever hope to.

"Hey Lincoln, this might hurt." Snapping me back into reality from myself wallowing, I see Luna reaching towards me with disinfectant. Knowing what is coming, I clench my jaw waiting for the pain that was about to endure.

As the rag touches the cut a surge of pain almost makes me yelp but I was able to keep it under control.

Doubtlessly seeing the pained expression, I hear a quick "Sorry" from her but I just shake my head telling her that it was Ok and as soon as it started it was over. I breathe a sigh of relief and look towards the girl in front of me.

"That should do it," She says, "Let me just bandage this up."

She seemed distracted as if she was thinking about something. Not wanting to snap her out of her thoughts, lest she starts to question me again, I just sit quietly and wait.

Picking up the gauze my shoulder was wrapped up with surprising speed. Luna was quiet for a few seconds just looking at me before standing up.

"Let me get you something else to wear, we can't have you walking around in blood-stained clothes," Luna says looking at what I was wearing.

She then leaves for a few seconds before returning with a t-shirt and jumper in hand.

"I hope this will do, the t-shirt used to belong to Lynn and for some reason, Leni was making the jumper," Luna says offering the items of clothing to me.

Looking at them, the t-shirt seemed to be just a bit too big for me on the account of my malnourished body but I don't mind, It was white with red outlines on the hem and cuffs of the shirt. The number five was present on the back matching the number that she wears now.

The jumper was a bit more interesting to me, Luna said that Leni was making it for me, why would Leni make something for me? I really don't understand these girls?

The first thing I notice about it was that the jumper was orange, the exact colour Leni said suited me. It looked to be a version of the polo she bought me that one time but with thicker fabric and longer sleeves, it looked comfortable.

I just stare at the jumper in my hand, I never thought that anyone would care enough to make me anything but here I was standing with something that was made just for me. It was almost enough to bring me to tears. I don't deserve this type of kindness, I really don't, not when I have been lying to them.

I don't know how long I stand there looking at the jumper but Luna snaps me out of shock.

"Hey, Lincoln, It is getting late and our parents aren't home for the night." She begins to say, "We have no way of getting you home so would you like to stay over for the night?"

She wanted me to stay over? I look at my options, I could say no but then they would expect my 'Parents' to come and collect me, so that's a no go. I can't say I will walk home not after getting caught with this injury plus one of them might volunteer to walk with me and well, that won't go so well for me. That just leaves me to say yes.

"If it isn't too much trouble, I guess I could stay here for the night," I tell her as I wrap my arms around myself.

"Great, I'll go get Lori to agree and you can call your parents." She says standing up and turning to leave but before she could get to the door I stop her.

"Hey, Luna," I say softly," Thank you, for you know, doing this."

Swiftly standing up I cover the short distance between us and pull her into a hug that lasts as long as a blink of an eye.

Caught off guard Luna just smiles at me with a look in her eye that I couldn't make out before she turns to leave.

As soon as she exits the room, I close the door behind her and this time take extra care to lock it.

I let out-breath of relief.

Taking off my blood-stained t-shirt being careful not to disturb the fresh bandage, I try to avoid seeing myself in the mirror quickly throwing on Lynn's old t-shirt and the jumper Leni had made for me.

I take in how comfortable it was, bringing warmth to me in an instant, it was soft to touch and made me feel like I was wrapped in a blanket. It was great.

Looking around the bathroom, I decided I should clean it up before someone else comes in here and sees dry blood splattered all over the ground.

Grabbing some toilet paper, I get on my hands and knees and begin to scrub the stains. Thankfully they lift off of the ground easily and as I was doing this I start to think.

I can't keep doing this, I just can't keep lying to these girls, they deserve so much more. All of them have done so much for me and I can't even tell them the truth. I really wish I could tell them, but I just know that they will get Child Protective Services involved, they are good people thinking that they will be doing one good deed but CPS has let me down before and I can't trust them not too again.

I need to stop this, the thought hurts more than I thought than it would but it's something that needs to be done. I got to stop talking to these girls before I hurt them, What If Lynn and Lisa had followed me into that alleyway then they could have been seriously hurt or worse.

What would have I done if they did? I feel sick at the taught of it.

That is it, starting tomorrow, I will leave these girls alone, and they will soon forget about me and this will slowly fade into good memories to look back on.

As I come to this conclusion, I stand up and throw the now bloody toilet paper into the toilet and flush.

Taking the blood-stained T-shirt, I scrunch it up into a ball and put it into my pocket.

I think that is enough time to make it seem like I called my parents. Facing the bathroom door, I take a deep breath before heading out into the hallway.

Whispers of conversation make their way up the stairs from the kitchen, presumably Luna talking to Lori. Not wanting to face both of them at the same time, I decide to have a little look around the upstairs.

I never really took in how large the Louds house is, judging by how many doors litter the hallway I would say that this place is bigger than a normal house. The dilapidated place I was staying in only had three rooms upstairs, most of them unusable but this house seemed to have five to six rooms upstairs alone. I guess you kind of need a big house for this many kids.

Walking past the stairs, I see one door that is opened, peaking in I see Lana and Lola inside, both of them are on the opposite side of the room going about their own activities.

Not wanting to bother them, I was going to turn and leave but before I could Lana catches sight of me.

"Lincoln!" She exclaims running over to me, "you look so much better now."

"Yeah, I actually feel a lot better," I respond while giving her a smile.

It was true, I was feeling a lot better now, though I did have a slight pain in my throat and my nose is a bit blocked but besides that I'm fine.

"That's great! Hey Lincoln, come and meet my animals." Lana says and before I knew it I was pulled deeper into the room, thankfully by my good arm.

As I get deeper into the room I take in just how different each side is. Glancing to the side Lola was on I am overcome by the colour pink which was splattered all over the place from her bed to her bedside cabinets. Lola herself was at a table with her back to me, so I couldn't really see what she was doing.

Turning to look at the side I was led onto, I notice how tomboyish it was. Hats were hung up on the wall alongside posters of various things. Around her bed, the ground was littered in different items from skateboards to a pair of skates. I also take note of the terrarium that I as being led directly to.

Once we get to said terrarium beside her bed she lets go of my hand and picks up a lizard up out of the glass box.

"This one is called Izzy." Lana says cradling the Lizard in her arms, "Do you want to hold him?"

Not seeing any reason not to I hold out my arms and the lizard is quickly placed in them. Holding him for a few seconds I start to relax getting more comfortable but as soon as I do he darts up my arm and my neck and perches himself in my hair. This almost causes me to fall backwards but Lana manages to stabilize me before it happens.

She lets out a chuckle at the sight of the Lizard on my head but takes no action to remove him, I guess he was comfortable up there.

Instead, she turns around and picks up another animal this time it was a frog.

"This is hops, I found him in a pond one day, and we were attached since." She says holding him up to me. "He's pretty cool, he can do-"

I stop listening as I feel something wrap around my leg, looking down I see a snake coiled around my calf before it squeezes.

Trying not to panic, I stop Lana mid-sentence by pointing down towards scaly reptile. She looks down and just smiles.

"That's El Diablo, he's just saying hello, I think he likes you," Lana says while picking up the snake from the ground and giving it a hug, it was kind of weird seeing such a young person hugging a snake.

Lana seemed to really like these animals. They obviously mean a lot to her and I could tell that she really enjoys talking about them as her smile seems to get wider as she goes on about them. It was kind of nice listening to her as she could barely hold her excitement.

Going through some more of her animals I listen intently as she introduces me to many more, such as a rat named Bitey or a canary named Walt.

While Lana was talking, I noticed a groan come from the other side of the room.

Pulling my eyes away from Lana who was now covered in many animals, all different shapes and sizes. I Look over and see Lola hunched over something, whatever it was obviously causing her some bother.

Excusing myself to Lana, I put down the rat I was holding and wander over to her to see what she is doing.

Looking over her shoulder, I see that she was trying to sew a hole in one of her dresses.

"Hey Lola, are you doing OK over here? " I inquire.

"Do I look ok, I got a rip in this dress and I need it for the next pageant season," Lola responds, glaring daggers at the dress in front of her as if it has personally insulted her.

"Can I help?" I ask her while taking a seat at the small table that was definitely made for people younger than me.

"And how are you going to help? It's not like you know how to sew a dress." Lola complains dropping the needle and thread in anger.

"I do actually," I say with a smile catching her off guard with my answer.

It's something that I learned to do ages ago before I was living on the streets. Money for me was hard to come by, so if I ever got a rip in any of my clothes I had to fix them myself. It was rough at first but after some time, I got better and by the time I was on the streets I was able to fix any hole in any of my clothes.

Picking up the dropped needle and thread, I begin to sew the hole in the dress back together, Sticking out my tongue as I work. I make a few mistakes here and there due to not having done this in ages but it was nothing I couldn't redo.

Thankfully the hole was small or this would have taken a lot more effort and materials.

Lola seemed to watch me all the time not taking her eyes off of what I was doing and after around five minutes I had finished.

Holding up the dress for Lola to see, I watch as she takes it into her hands and inspects what I had done. An odd feeling of nervousness overtakes me does she like what I have done, I really hope she does.

I was just about to apologize for doing a bad job but before I could Lola smiles and leans over the table to hug me. I feel warmth spread through my chest as I do and a smile makes its way to my face. Is this what it feels like to be a big brother?

"Thank you so much, Lincoln." She says while pressing her head into my chest.

Returning the hug I give a quick "No problem Lola" before letting go.

Standing up, I think to myself that I should probably go and check on Luna who has been gone for a while.

Waving both to Lana and Lola, I get a quick goodbye from both of them before I exit their room and head to the stairs. I can still hear a conversation between Luna and Lori that was going on down in the kitchen.

With a bit of hesitation, I walk down the stairs. I get about half-way down, when the voices become a lot clearer.

"I don't know what is he is lying about Lori, but it can't be too bad, I don't think it could hurt us." I can hear Luna's voice come around the corner.

They are talking about me, Luna knows I was lying about some things, this is why I need to stop talking to these girls before they learn the truth.

"I don't care, Luna, you need to be careful around him, I told you so many times that he wasn't telling you something." Lori then says.

"Anyway dude, He will be bunking in me and Luan's room tonight," Luna explains to Lori.

"Are you sure you are okay with it? He could always sleep on the couch," Lori suggests to Luna.

She lets out a displeased noise before replying, "And let Lynn sneak down to him during the night?"

"Fine, fine, he can sleep in your room," Lori gives up on trying to convince her.

Not feeling comfortable, I look at the door, I need to get out of here now.

I start to tiptoe down the stairs, cringing at each creak that my steps produced. I get to the bottom and don't even bother to look towards the kitchen, getting to the door I extend my hand towards the handle.

"What are you doing?" The voice of Luna makes me jump a little, how are they able to sneak up on me so easily.

"Uh, just getting my bag." I lie, quickly redirecting my hand towards said bag on the ground beside the door.

One of them must have brought it inside from the car.

"I just wanted to put something in it," I block their view with my body while I pull out the Bloodstained t-shirt from my pocket making extra sure Lori doesn't see it and put it in the bag.

Turning around, I watch as both of them share a look and wince mentally.

"OOOOOkkkkkk," Luna elongates the word out with a suspicious tone. She shakes her head before speaking again, "So did you call your parents?"

"Parents? Oh, I mean yeah I called them, they said I could stay." I answer thinking that it would have been so much easier if I had left without being caught.

It's not that I don't want to stay because in honestly I really do. A warm place to sleep during the winter months is great, even if it is for one night. These girls are just to close to the truth for me to be comfortable, they know something is wrong and while they don't know exactly what it is, I have a strong feeling that they will try very hard to find out.

"Is Lincoln staying over?" Jumping a little, I look up the stairs that I came down just a few moments ago and see Lynn in what I assume is her bed wear.

"Yes Lynn, and before you ask, he is sleeping in Luna and Luan's room," Lori says with an annoyed expression, not even bothering to turn around to face her.

"What? Why?" Lynn complains instantly, much to Lori's ire.

"Because I said so," Lori says this time turning to face Lynn and while I couldn't see her face I could tell there was a scowl on it.

"Fine." Lynn pouts before turning around and heading back into her room while slamming the door.

Letting out a yawn, I feel the exhaustion return to me again, have I not slept enough for the last few days? I guess the blood loss really didn't help with my recovery.

Luna sighs before turning around to face me again and notices me yawning.

"Huh, It's getting late, we should probably go to sleep dude," Luna says.

"We can just use the same pillow and blanket that you used on the couch," She says heading to the couch to gather them up before returning and giving them to me.

"Why don't you head upstairs and go make yourself at home in our room dude, it's the one on the right from the bathroom." She suggests before adding, " I will be up in a second."

Climbing the stairs with the bed stuff, I look towards the door Luna said was hers and Luan's to see that it was open now.

Entering the room, the first thing I noticed was that on the left side was a bunk bed. Sitting on the bottom bed was Luan, who was reading some book that has a clown on the cover.

"Hey Linc, heard you are bunking here for the night," She says looking over the top of the book at me.

Raising an eyebrow, I was just about to ask her how she knew that, but she just lifts up the phone that was on the bed beside her and waves it around.

"Luna texted me about it," she explains putting down the device again, she gets up and jumps off of her bed.

"Wait here while I go get something for you." She tells me before disappearing out through the door.

Having time to look around her room, I drop the items in my hand and begin to look.

Not wanting to overstep any boundaries, I physically don't move but I let my eyes roam over the room and take it in.

There were music items everywhere, I knew Luna was musically talented but I didn't know she played this many instruments. From drums to a keyboard, there seemed to be every type possible.

On the wall beside the bed was an acoustic guitar hanging, like you could grab it if you sit up to reach it.

Scattered around the room also was prop comedy items, I could see whoopee cushions, fart spray and a pair of fake glasses.

There was a purple bean bag in the corner and on it was a familiar doll. Mr. Coconut stares blankly at me and I stare at him. He looks no different from when I returned him back, it is kind of crazy to think that this thing was what got me to this point.

"What's up Doll" A put on voice comes from the doorway which makes me jump, Luan is standing there with what I could tell was a blow-up mattress, a smile plastered on her face.

"We use this for when one of our friends come over for a sleepover." She says dragging the mattress further into the room stepping over the bedding items on the ground. She drops it in the middle of the room which was surprisingly clear of any clutter.

I notice that the mattress had many patch jobs on it, probably covering many holes that it got over the years of use.

"I would tell you a joke about a bed but I haven't _made it_ up yet" Luan jokes causing me to roll my eyes but smile nonetheless.

"Thanks, Luan," I say to her while grabbing the pillow and duvet and throwing them onto the blow-up bed.

As I am doing this, Luan jumps on to her bed and picks up her book again.

I climb on to the mattress and wrap myself in the surrounding blankets, looking up at Luan I open my mouth.

"You know Luan, I heard a myth about a single bed placed on top of another one and attached with a ladder. Fortunately, I was able to _debunk_ it." I find myself saying out of know where.

I watch as the book she was holding drops and a laugh bursts forward from her.

"I didn't know you were a comedian Lincoln," Luan says once her laughs had died down.

"I see you guys are having fun in here," Luna states coming in from the hallway closing the door behind her, she was changed from her normal clothes in to a pair of pyjamas which consisted of a pair of purple PJ bottoms with a matching long purple sleeved shirt with her trademark skull on it.

"Hey, Luna, what do you call a sleeping bull?" Luan immediately prompts her, "A _bulldozer_!"

Letting out a chuckle, I can't help laughing more at Luna's reaction which was her face dropping and letting her eyes roll.

Luna then looks at me, a bit of concern in her eyes. She takes her eyes off of me and looks to Luan again.

"Har, har Luan, I think that's enough jokes for one night," she says climbing into her bunk getting under the covers.

"Fine, fine, all I'm saying is If you know sleep puns, you'll never be caught _napping_ again!" Luan jokes

I hear a shuffling noise and an ompff from Luan. Looking up at the bed, I see a pillow planted firmly on her face, a purple pillow.

"Go to sleep," Luna commands and the room gets quiet aside from shuffling of them getting comfortable.

I guess I should go to sleep as well.

I shift to get comfortable but it just wouldn't come. After ten minutes of moving, I was still nowhere near getting to sleep, I let out a sigh.

The bed is too comfortable I realize, after sleeping on the ground for so long, I kind of got used to the feeling. It was so long since I had a warm blanket and soft surface to sleep on, it's something I thought about having and now that I got it for one night, I can't sleep.

"Are you okay Lincoln," A voice from the bunk bed asks me, I could make out that it was Luna who said it.

"Yeah, just can't sleep," I say once again turning.

It was quiet for a couple of seconds, then all of a sudden, Luna moves and I pick up the sound of her grabbing something.

I hear a gentle guitar stroke. The acoustic sound slowly flows down from her top bunk and I just relax and listen to it.

Instead of singing any lyrics, Luna starts to hum a soft tune, which was oddly soothing. I get lost in the music slowly losing myself in it.

My eyes become heavy and my grasp on the world seems to fade away, as the music comes to an end.

Just as I fall asleep, I hear one last thing.

"What are you not telling us Lincoln?"


	10. Such Toomfoolery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lisa does not part take in such tomfoolery.

_"Open your fucking eyes, boy." A deep voice demands._

_Cracking them open, I see his green orbs staring directly into mine with nothing but violence behind them._

_"Good, I don't want you to miss this." He intones bringing his hand up to cup my cheek which in turn causes me to flinch._

_He backs off and leaves my vision, giving me time to gather my senses._

_I could hear him shuffling around and moving things in the corner of the room._

_A gust of cold air hits me and I feel the frigid breeze attack my exposed upper body, leaving me to shiver ever so slightly._

_I try to move my arms but this only causes a sting of pain to shoot through my wrists as the cuffs that chained me to the wall, cut deeper into my tender skin._

_Suddenly he fills my view again, this time with a smirk on his face._

_"Now, What happens when someone breaks the rule's boy?" He asks with a sinister tone. His brows furrowing waiting for an answer._

_I let out a groan and was not prepared for the agony that rocks my body as the distinct noise of leather on skin rings throughout the room, echoing off the bare walls mixing itself with my strained scream._

_"Answer the QUESTION!" He growls readying the leather belt once again._

_"Punishment!" I cry out._

_"They get punished, please, not again!" I beg, already feeling the hit area starting to burn._

_"Good, so tell me, if a boy tries to leave this house without me, what do you think they deserve?" He grunts._

_The malice behind the words has already giving me enough knowledge to know that no matter what I say, it's going end in pain._

_"Mercy?" I try to plead knowing that the chances of it actually doing anything was almost naught._

_"Maybe," He starts off causing hope to rise in me only for it to be crushed out by the next sentence, "If this was the first time."_

_The familiar sting and noise of the belt hitting me, causes pain to erupted from my chest making me gasp._

_"I think you need to spend sometime in the dark room, it might teach you to stop breaking the rules." He utters, causing me to struggle against my chains._

_"Not the dark room, please, I'll be good, I swear anything but the dark room." I plead only to hear him laugh._

_"You know boy, I have got to leave town for a couple of days and I can't trust you to be here alone." He points out, "So, I think a few days in the dark room would be better for me and you."_

_Feeling tears beginning to streak down my face, all I could do was beg over and over again as he undoes the cuffs and drags me across the room. The uneven floor scraping my back as I go._

_He opens a metal door that swings out with a loud screech and reveals a small room that is only big enough to stand up in. On the ground was a bowl of water that had probably not been changed in weeks and a bowl with some kind of food in it._

_"Please no, I'll be good, I-I'll be g-good"_

_Ignoring my continuing pleading, he props me up before shoving me harshly into the room._

_"Now, what do we say?" He asks._

_Not wanting to give him the answer he wants, I try to stand tall and not look at him._

_This causes him to raise his hand and bring down with a sharp crack across my cheek. The force behind it knocks me into one of the small walls of the tiny room._

_"WHAT do we say?" He asks again raising his hand as he does._

_"I-I l-love y-you" I stutter out not willing to make eye contact with him, the words making me feel sick as I say them._

_"And I love you to boy." He grunts before swinging the heavy metal door close, plunging me into darkness._

I jolt awake, flying into a sitting position.

My heart feels like it is about to come out of my chest and the trickle of sweat that rolled down my forehead did little to calm the swirl of emotion within me.

I have not had a dream like that in I don't know how long, what makes it worse was the dream was basically a memory of something I tried so hard to repress.

It was a reminder of what was at stake, what could happen if the Louds find out my secret and get CPS involved, forcing me back to him.

Something deep inside me tells me that I should tell them. I should tell them everything about what happened to me but I know I can't, It's almost as if an invisible force compels me not to expose the truth about that man.

I almost did tell someone once, a very long time ago.

A social worker came to visit , to check how things were going. I was in the room alone with her, it was the most opportune time to tell her everything but as soon as I opened my mouth to do so, nothing came out.

It was as if I was chocking on air, I couldn't physically force myself to say anything. It just shows how fucking pathetic I was and am.

Feeling the whispers of panic caused by the nightmare slowly fade away, I had to remind myself of where I was.

The room was dark, the silence filling the void, only being broken by the sound of soft breathing coming from the bunk bed beside me.

Throwing off the blanket that was covering me, I quietly stand up, trying to make as little sound as possible.

I think now is the best time to take my leave, I can be long gone before they wake.

I know I will not be able to resist staying around them longer if I don't go now. I can't lie they are the best thing that has ever happened to me, I really don't want to go.

But I have to, it's just better for me and them if I do, fewer people get hurt.

I creep towards the door, avoiding all the items scattered on the floor. Opening it, the cold air from the hallway hits me, giving me a flashback to the nightmare which in turn causes goosebumps to spread up my arms.

Taking one last look at the room I just left, I close the door and make my way towards the stairs.

I was just about to head down the steps when a whisper comes from my left, making me jump a little. Looking in the direction of the voice, I see Lisa standing in her pajamas looking fully awake, it was almost as if she wasn't sleeping.

"Lincoln, where are you going at such a late hour? You are not leaving are you?" She asks me, adjusting her glasses on her face as she does.

There was something weird about the glasses she was wearing, they were green, a lot bigger than her normal ones and had red lights pointing out from both sides of the rims.

What even are those?

"Uh, no, I was just getting a cup of water." I lie, gesturing down the stairs as I do.

As the words leave my mouth the lights on the side of the glasses light up, emitting a beeping noise as they do. Lisa just hums to herself at the noise, seemingly coming to a conclusion of some sort.

"While I would hate to take you away from getting your needed amount of H2O, I require your presence in my room," Lisa says and I furrow my brow in concern, "Do not fret Lincoln, it won't take up much of your time." She adds on probably seeing the confusion on my face.

Not having much choice, I follow her into the room she was standing beside.

The room was an interesting one, there seemed to be a random assortment of items and tools lying around on various tables. There were test tubes and conical flasks set up bubbling away with different colour mixtures inside of them. The walls were lined with blue prints of different inventions and had notes scribbled on them that seemed to be out of my league of comprehension.

I knew Lisa was smart for whatever age she was from the way she spoke but this just blows my mind. This must go beyond child genius level of intellect, there is no way this is normal.

"Please take a seat Lincoln, I promise this won't take that long, if everything goes well." Lisa says, while taking a seat on a swivel chair herself.

Taking a seat as well, I couldn't help but ask, "Uh, not to sound rude or anything but what is this about?"

"Not one to beat around the bush, I can admire that trait," Lisa starts off pausing for a second to think before continuing, "Lincoln, it has come to my knowledge that you had a little incident in the bathroom."

My body goes rigid with shock and a sudden coldness hits my stomach, how did she find out about that? I know Luna told Lori what happened, but they wouldn't tell everyone would they?

"Wha-t do y-you mean?" I stutter trying to remain somewhat composed in order to avoid revealing just how nervous I was becoming.

"There is no point in denying it Lincoln, I have cameras installed in virtually every corner of this house, I was a witness to your and Luna's conversation." Lisa explains turning to a screen and turning it on which then displays live feeds of random parts of the house.

"Cameras?" I ask with disbelief, why would she have cameras set up around the house and in the bathroom as well?

Lisa looks caught off guard for a second. She brings up her hand to the glasses she was wearing seemingly adjusting them but I could hear a quiet 'click' come from them.

"Uh, do not worry Lincoln, everyone knows they are there, it is for safety precautionary measures." She says with a strained smile that almost formed a jagged line across her face before bringing her hand to the glasses again, "Now, I would like to see the wound in person to ascertain that everything is alright."

"There really is no need to, Luna did a great job cleaning it up." I say trying to get out of here as quickly as possible. I can't help but feel that Lisa is looking for something out of me, What it is? I don't know but I know I will probably won't like what it is.

"Now Lincoln, why I am assured that Luna is a capable person, I am the recipient of numerous medical honors that would make me far more qualified to look the area over." Lisa insists getting up and moving closer to me.

Sighing to myself I just let her drop my chair down to her level and roll up my sleeve to expose the bandage that thankfully had no blood on it, If the wound had opened while I was having that nightmare then I would have probably bled all over Luna and Luan's room.

"Hm, the type of cut matches that of a knife wound..." Lisa mutters to herself as she analyzes every aspect of the stab wound, it was like she was checking to see if I was lying about how it happened.

We sit there in silence for what felt like minutes to me but was probably closer to 10 seconds or so. I can't help breath a sigh of relief when Lisa backs off, putting the bandages back on as she does.

"Tell me Lincoln, how did this injury come about?" She questions taking her seat again.

Swallowing, I clear my throat before saying,"You have cameras in the bathroom so you must have heard the bit where I explained what happened."

"That's the problem, your explanation was a complete lie, and do not to try to deny it, I have methods of finding out the truth. " She responds tapping the contraption on her face.

I now just realize what those things are, lie detectors. I can't even question if they work or not because they already caught me in one lie by the stairs.

She was looking for the truth, and she was getting way to close for comfort. I was reaching the stage of panic now and when I panic I tend to run.

Looking towards the door that was closed, I was weighing up my chances of escape but Lisa puts a stop to that notion.

"I would not try to do that Lincoln, that entryway has been reinforced with a titanium composite, a precaution added to protect individuals from undesirable explosion blasts brought about by my more reactive experiments." She warns me, Jesus, what does this girl get up to in here?

I felt like a trapped animal, backed up against a wall with no escape. I don't know how to get out of this one, my usually fall backs of lying and running being stripped away from me.

I have no choice but to tell the truth, the thought made me sick to my stomach. This is it, the moment I tried so hard to prevent from happening is now being forced out of me.

I clench my sweaty palms and try to steady my breathing, building enough courage to finally come clean.

Why was this so hard? I was planning on leaving them today anyway, what does it matter that I leave a homeless kid in their eyes? That's if they even let me leave at all.

"Fine, Lisa, you want the truth here it is." I start to say only to pause, I try to gather myself, so I don't choke on my words as they come out.

"I'm a, I'm a homeless k-kid alr-right." I grind out feeling my skin tingle as I do, "My parents died when I was four and after a lot of shit happened, I wound up on the street. Are you happy now?"

Lisa waits to hear a beep from her glasses but when none comes her eyes widen just a little bit, flicking the switch on them. She takes them off and puts on her proper glasses. She takes a few seconds to gather her thoughts from what I just said and before long she speaks up.

"Lincoln, why I am not the best when it comes to emotional comfort, I would like to say that I am sorry for what has happened to you." Lisa says softly, with more compassion than I thought she had, but that doesn't change the fact that she now knows.

"Yeah and now you know the truth, I guess I'll take my leave, I won't bother you or your family again." I mumble, about to stand up off of the chair but once again Lisa stops me in my tracks.

"I am sorry Lincoln, I can not permit that." She says and I freeze up.

This is it, she is going to tell the others, and they will finally know what I am. They will hate me for lying and leading them to believe I was a normal person.

I am going to be brought to CPS, and then they are going to bring me back to him and then I don't know what will happen.

The thoughts run through my mind at lighten speed I almost miss what Lisa says next.

"You see, some of my older sisters have gotten affixed to you and by taking leave, you may make some of them less than happy." Lisa says.

This confuses me, why would she care that me leaving would hurt her sisters in someway, it's not like it would be that bad for them.

"So?" I respond.

"In my quest to be a better in touch with my emotions, I endeavor to keep my sisters best interests at heart. I believe letting you leave will lead to them getting hurt emotionally, something I can not allow." Lisa explains leaning forwards on her chair.

"While you telling them the truth would be Ideal, I have had experiences with me forcing people to tell the truth, which almost lead to a break down in the family, so I will not coerce you to tell them." Lisa says and I can feel a sense of relief flow through me, the feeling was even enough for me not to point out how she just forced me to tell her my secret.

"So you won't tell them?" I ask hopefully.

"Lincoln, I have no room in my brain for such tomfoolery," Lisa says and I take it as her agreeing not to tell anyone.

Sighing, I lean back in my chair in relief, it kind of felt good telling the truth even though it was only to one of the Loud sisters who now knows.

"You were going to leave, weren't you?" Lisa asks showing no emotion.

"Yeah, I have some things I need to take care of." I explain, I have to go find a proper hide out, I need to get back on the pick pocketing grind and some other things that I need to do.

"You are planning to come visit again." Lisa says not asks, telling me that I better return.

"Yeah, I sure will." I confirm, thanking god that she took of those glasses.

"I guess you should be leaving now." Lisa yawns out and I take note of the bags under her eyes, Why was she even up this late anyway?

Getting up I head to the door but before I get to it, I hear Lisa press a button on her desk. This causes a thunking noise to come from the door which opens up.

I guess she wasn't lying about the door being reinforced.

Just as I am about to leave Lisa says one more thing, "Lincoln, I am sorry for the loss of your parents, I couldn't imagine what I would do if I lost my parents. I am also sorry for making you tell me that, I just needed to make sure my sisters were safe."

"Don't worry about it Lisa, I fully understand." I say before leaving.

Heading down the stairs I grab my bag that laid beside the door and take one last look back into the house before heading out the door.

* * *

It had been a couple of days since I have left the Loud house and I find myself walking through a park. If I have to spend one more night on the hard ground of an alleyway than I will actually die, I need something else to sleep on, that's why I have decided a park bench would do.

Finding a new place to permanently sleep seemed to be impossible, it is almost as if every place that I visited had either been slated for reconstruction or claimed by some other homeless person.

It doesn't help that the winter months are not being kind to me and my health. The sickness, while not as bad as it was on the day I was at the Louds, still plagues me. My throat is becoming red raw from the constant coughing and sneezing, I really can not wait for spring, maybe the hot weather will chase this away.

Walking down the main path in the park, I spot a bench with not much snow on it. Not having much choice I pick that one to be my bed for the nap I am about to have.

Heading towards it, I was not expecting to be blind sided by something cold hitting me in the side of the head. Looking over my clothes I see fresh snow covering the top of jacket, ain't that just great.

Turning my head to see where that snowball came from, I am caught off guard when I feel someone tackle into me, hugging my waist.

Just how big is this city? How do I keep running into them so often? I really need to start checking areas I am going to, so I can make sure that they aren't there but knowing my luck I would probably still run into them anyway.

"Where did you go Lincoln? We woke up and Lisa told me and Lola that you left in the night." Lana says with a look of confusion.

"Yeah, there was a family emergency, I had to go and deal with that." I lie hoping that she leaves the questioning there.

"Oh, is everything okay?" Lana questions and I scramble to think of an answer.

"Yes, yeah, um my grandfather is sick." I fib and watch as her expression becomes concerned.

"Oh wow, I hope he gets better, I couldn't imagine what I would do if my Pop-Pop got sick." Lana says in sadness and I sigh in relief, she actually bought it.

"I-" start to say only to be hit in the face with another snowball.

"Dang it, I was aiming for Lana," another voice joins the conversation, this time belonging to Lola.

She walks up to me and Lana and lands a hit on my good arm, "That's for leaving without telling us."

Caught off guard with the action, I mutter a quick "sorry" to her.

"Lola! His grandfather was sick, he had to go see him." Lana says, admonishing Lola for hitting me.

"Are you guys here alone?" I ask looking around for any of the older Loud sisters.

"No, Lori is sitting on the bench over there." Lana points across a large open area of snow at said Lori who was busy typing on her phone, she looked to be having some difficulty typing with her gloves.

"Oh and Lu-," Lana starts to say only to be interrupted by another snowball, this time thankfully not aimed at me, smashes it's way into the back of her head.

"Sigh, hello Lincoln," The monotone voice of Lucy joins the conversation and I had to stop myself from jumping as she appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey, Lucy didn't see you there." I say to her.

"I'm used to that." Lucy claimed seemingly not affected by me not noticing her presence.

Before the conversation could go on any longer, an angry Lana turns to Lucy and winds up her arm to toss a snowball at her. As she lets it fly out of her hand, time slows down as it sails past Lucy and directly into Lola's face.

Sensing the incoming storm, I try to back off but before I could, Lana grabs my hand and shouts, "Snowball FIGHT!"

I am dragged along by her as she pulls me behind some trees for cover, snowballs landing around us.

"What is happening?" I find myself asking as Lana leans down to scoop snow into her hands and starts to form snowballs.

"A snowball fight, haven't you ever been in one?" She questions, not taking her eyes off of what she was doing.

Not bothering to tell her that have in fact not been in a snowball fight before, I begin to copy her movements and mold myself a snowball.

Finishing forming my one snowball, I see Lana has seven or so in front of her already.

"Ok, Lincoln, we are going to make a run for that picnic table over there." She says pointing at the snow covered table and handing me two more snowballs.

Peaking my head out from behind the trees, I see nothing but open area of snow, how Lola and Lucy are blending into this area so well I don't know.

From beside me Lana begins to count down from three.

"3, 2, 1, and Go!" Lana exclaims before sprinting out from cover with me following.

I was not expecting the barrage of snowballs to come flying towards us, hitting me over and over again. These girls have some good aim I got to admit as another snowball collides with me, I should really retaliate but I have no clue where they were coming from.

The same could not be said about Lana as she expertly doges everything thrown at her, even having time to return fire obviously having spotted the other team.

Getting half-way to our goal, I decide I should probably throw some of my ammo even if I don't know where they are. Throwing them without looking, I keep running towards the picnic table that Lana had just reached.

"Wow, that was close," Lana says to me, "I almost got hit." She then bends down to make more snow balls.

"Yeah, same." I respond, looking down at my outfit which was now sprinkled with white flecks.

Looking back from where we just came, I finally see Lucy and Lola. They are both duck behind a snow wall that blends in perfectly with the surrounding area.

While I stand there trying to figure out just how they did it, I notice two more snow balls coming towards us, more specifically towards Lana. Making a split decision, I dive in front of her, taking a snowball to the body and face.

"Lincoln!" Lana exclaims rushing to me.

"Avenge me Lana." I gasp out as a joke and pretend to die.

"NO!" Lana plays along and gathers up her fresh ammo and charges the two behind the snow wall.

Standing up, I watch as things descend into chaos as the game turns into every person for themselves.

Feeling winded from all that running, I dust off snow from the picnic bench beside me and take a seat to gather my breath.

I watch as the girls continue on with the fight. Flinging ball after ball of snow at each other, sometimes landing a hit and sometimes totally missing their target.

As I get lost in watching them play and have fun, I couldn't help think that it felt good to play with them. I know I am older than them but the brief moment of forgetting what I am and just being a kid for a small amount of time was freeing.

It's not often I get to just be a kid and enjoy the moment and why shouldn't I enjoy the moment, tomorrow is going to be me going back to the same routine of surviving, so I think I am entitled to a little fun right now.

As I watch, I totally miss three other people enter the park and head towards me once they see me sitting here.

I am taken by surprised when I feel someone taking a seat beside me. Looking over I see Lynn plopping herself down beside me with a weird look on her face, and I am immediately put on edge.

Her face was drawn into a frown and her eyes seemed to be hardened, like she just found out about something that she was not happy with.

While looking at her, I totally miss both Luna and Luan circle me, both planting themselves on the seats across from me both with the same look as Lynn, for some reason I could feel some kind of tension between me and them.

"Uh, hey-y guys," I meekly say and watch as their expressions don't change, I can definitely say the nerves are building now.

"Lincoln, I am going to ask you something and I want you to be honest with us." Lynn says and all three turn to look directly at me, "I don't want you to lie to us about this."

The next words out of her mouth causes my heart to drop.

"Is what Lisa told us about you true, are you homeless?"


	11. Coming Slighty Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It mostly comes out.

"Is what Lisa told us about you true?" Lynn pauses for a second, but I knew what she was going to say next, "are you homeless?"

I feel my skin tingle under the combined gazes of Luna and Luan as they both put their attention on me and a sweat breaks out onto my brow as I wilt under the pressure radiating from all three of them.

Swallowing a lump in my throat, I try to come up with someway out of this, but my mind is distracted by an odd feeling that makes itself camp in my chest, It was a feeling I was accustomed to as I have felt so many times over my short life, the feeling of betrayal.

I remember the first time I ever felt betrayed like this, it was when my parents died. I know that sounds bad but the mind of a four-year old was not capable of understanding how his parents could leave him in the world all alone. It took me months to come to terms with what happened and forgive them for something that I now know was out of their control.

But nothing could be compared to the feeling of betrayal I felt when the orphanage handed me over to 'him' like some used toy, dragging me away from the friends that I made there, friends that I considered family.

It was a learned lesson for when I took to the streets, don't let people get to close to you, it will only end with somebody getting hurt, that somebody always being me.

I lived by it for two years, until I made that choice to save Luan in that alley. I let one of my most important rules fly out the window on that fateful night but it didn't end there. For some reason, I was driven to find the owner of that stupid case and then let said owner and her sisters get close to me and look where I am now, surrounded by three of them as they try to forcible get the truth from me.

That being said, It's not like I could fault Lisa for telling them about what she found out. Yes, I thought that she agreed not to tell anyone about this but it only made sense that she did. Hell, I might have done the same if I was in her position.

She didn't owe me anything to keep the truth hidden, it could've only caused her problems when the truth comes out down the line, so I guess it was better for her to spill the beans now rather than later.

"Lincoln?" Luna's voice drags me back into reality.

I guess I got to do what I do best, which was lie.

"What? Homeless? That is ridiculous." I say putting on my best serious face as I do.

"Oh cut the bullshit Lincoln." Lynn growls out, and I am taken a back about how forceful the words are,"Lisa showed us the tapes of you and her talking in her room, so you better start telling us the truth."

Well, that fell apart quick.

Caught in my lie, I couldn't help feel like an idiot. Of course Lisa would have cameras in her room, she had them everywhere else, and of course she would show them the tapes. I guess they would not have believed her without them.

I can still feel their piercing stares waiting for me to admit to something they already know about.

I can't do this, I need to get out of here now. Looking around for any chance of escape I am taken by surprise when my arm is immediately taken into a vice-like grip that belonged to Lynn.

I glance at her with shock, and she shakes her head. " Lisa also said you were going to do something like that." She says squeezing the arm a bit as a warning, telling me that I can not run.

Turning to both Luna and Luan, I notice both of them coiled, ready to jump if I somehow manage to get out of Lynn's grasp and try to make a run for it.

With any chance of escape gone, I once again feel like a trapped animal with its back up against the wall.

"It seems like Lisa has told you everything." I say delaying the inevitable.

"Lincoln, if there is one thing you should learn about Lisa is she has no room in her brain to hold other peoples secrets, she considers it 'Tomfoolery' to do so." Lynn says, with a look in her eye, like she was remembering something.

"We just need to hear it come from you, dude." Luna pipes up from across the table.

My legs shift beneath me, causing Lynn to squeeze my arm. I Ignore this and try to face the fact that I am going to have to tell them.

God, the one thing I did not want to happen, is well, happening.

I sigh to myself.

Opening my mouth I try to force the words out of me, not paying any attention to how all three of them leaned forward.

"Fine, it's true.." I mutter, "I'm a h-homeless kid."

The three of them glance at each other with concern, though I could see a little anger behind Lynn's eyes.

It is quiet for a few seconds, as they have a silent conversation between themselves, which ends with them coming to some sort of resolution.

"For how long?" Luan questions, speaking up for the first time since she sat down and once again all of their eyes are on me.

Here comes the questions, they are going to try to find out everything about this, and I am so not ready to answer these questions, but what choice do I have? It's not like I can run, Lynn's grip a constant reminder of how I am trapped.

"About two years, give and take a couple of months." I answer taking note of how wide their eyes get.

"Two years!" Luna exclaims incredulously, "dude, you must have been homeless around the age of eight or nine for that to be true."

I just nod my head at what she says, I was nine when I first took the streets, getting by on people who took pity on the homeless kid. Most of my meals coming from people who thought they were being saints by buying a starving kid a meal just so they could sleep easier at night knowing that they at least did something for me.

"How? How did you wind up on the streets at such a young age?" Luan asks, leaning across the table and taking my left hand into hers, probably trying to calm my nerves but only serving to worsen them.

I got to be careful with what I say here, there is no way in hell I am telling them about 'him', they can rip the truth out of me about my homelessness all they want, but that is one thing they will never get out of me. I have tried to forget that part of my life and move on, I am not dragging it up now, especially not to them.

"My parents died when I was four years old," I start off with the truth before I hit them with the lies, "I spent a long time in an orphanage, but the people there were less than kind. After a while I got sick of waiting to get adopted and I lost any hope of finding another family, so I escaped to the streets."

The lie rolled easily off of my tongue and I thank god that they didn't bring Lisa's lie detector glasses with them, because if they did, then I would be screwed.

At the mention of my dead parents both Luna and Lynn squeeze their hands around the parts of my arm and hand they are holding and all three of them try to hide the sorrow and pity that filled their eyes.

It was silent for a few seconds as all three of them gather their thoughts.

"It all makes sense now," Luan says quietly, "you being in the alley that late at night or never having money on you."

"When I caught you lining up in a soup kitchen or when you ran away from me and Lisa when we tried to follow you home." Lynn continues on.

"And that time I found you sleeping at the library and why you were so reluctant to go to the hospital for that cut on your shoulder." Luna finishes.

I flinch at each memory brought up, how I managed to keep the secret from them for so long is a mystery considering all the slip ups I made.

Hearing about my injured shoulder Lynn winces and retracts her arm from holding on to me, throwing me an apologetic look as she does.

The look then reverts back and she asks me another question, "Why did you try to keep it a secret from us Lincoln?"

There was a little force behind the words, the anger she was holding back slipping through just a little.

"It's not something you tell people when you first meet, and well after a while I got used to being treated like a normal kid, it felt nice." I try to explain, being careful to gloss over the real reason.

"Dude, we could have helped you become a normal kid, we can help you get off the streets." Luna claims, pulling my attention towards her.

"That's the problem, you Louds have good hearts and are some of the nicest people I have ever met," I say, and they straighten up in pride at the compliments but I continued on without stopping, "so I knew you would try to help me, but that would just lead me back to the place I escaped from."

"How can we not help you? Look at yourself Lincoln, you look like you have been dragged through a blender and that's being nice." Luan says and the other two nod their heads in agreement.

"It's not that bad," I respond, wrapping my arms around me, trying to ignore a twinge of pain in my shoulder.

I could feel my nerves building up inside of me, they are going somewhere this, and I know where exactly where.

"Not that bad? Lincoln, I had to patch up a bleeding shoulder in our bathroom," Luna says and I couldn't help and cringe at how bad that sounded.

"Well it's not like that is the first time something like that happened to me," I mutter as a way to down play the event but I immediately regret saying that as they all look at me with surprise and concern.

"That sounds like even more of a reason to step in and do something," Luan says and looks at the other two, who both nod at her.

Uh oh, that does not sound good.

"Lincoln, you have quickly become a good friend to this family, that's why we can't sit by and let you suffer being homeless, so we think it is best if we contacted Child Protective Services for you." Lynn says and I almost throw up right then and there.

I knew it, my worst nightmare is coming true, they are going to send me back.

If only Lynn wasn't holding my arm I cou-, wait a minute, she let go of me when Luna mentioned my shoulder.

Once I come to this realisation, I could only do one thing.

They say In nature when presented with a situation such as this you either fight or flight and since I can't fight my body moves to the second option.

Without any warning, I turn on the bench with great speed, towing my bag behind me as I do. I catch all of their expressions in my peripheral vision, turning to surprise at my rapid movements.

Lunging of the bench I begin to run, ignoring the calls and shouts of protest from behind me. I blow past Lucy and the twins, who's faces morph in to confusion and surprise at my running.

Pumping my legs harder than I ever had before, I feel my leg muscles strain under intense strain caused by the sprint I am doing.

The cold air whips at my face as I go and before I knew it, I was at the park gates in what could be described as record time.

Once I was out of there, I start to run in a random direction not paying any attention to any shouts or looks I get as I barrel past people, knocking some of them off their feet as I go.

I can hear the blood pumping in my ears, drowning out the quick and rapid breaths expelling from my lungs. The constant beat of my shoes hitting the pavement being the only noise keeping me grounded in reality.

I don't know where I was running to, but it felt like my brain had a destination in mind as I sprint down seemingly random streets.

After what seemed like hours of moving my legs but was more like a few minutes, I dart into a nearby alley, an odd sense of comfort overtakes me as I do.

It was weird knowing that a naturally dangerous place, provides me with this feeling, but It kind of made sense when I thought about it. I have been hurt in so many ways by so many people that when I first found myself on the streets my only refuge were these alleyways.

A few more minutes of running through random passages, I feel a fire expand in my chest.

Slowing down, I stumble and catch myself on one of the many walls that make up the back streets of royal woods.

I toss off my bag and throw it deeper in the alley, it lands a couple of meters away and slides under a dumpster..

Pressing my back against the wall, I slide down it, feeling the irregular surface of the building scratch at my back all the way down. I take large gulps of air trying to catch my breath while my brain tries to sort out the whirlwind of my emotions.

My legs felt like they were about to explode, I was definitely not fit enough to do something like that, I know I will be feeling stiff in my legs for days.

Trying to catch my breath, I hang my head low and breathe through my nose and out through my mouth, this also helping to calm my swelling emotions.

"Lincoln?" Lynn's voice makes me jump, her form filling the entrance of the alley, bent over and slightly out of breath.

The shock of seeing her shoots through me, and I try to scramble to my feet but before I could she was in front of me.

"Lincoln, please calm down," She says kneeling down to my level and putting one of her hands on my good shoulder, "It's Ok, please don't try to run again."

Taking some more breaths, I look up and meet her eyes, her dark brown orbs held nothing but concern and confusion.

She doesn't say anything, allowing me to catch my breath a bit more. I don't think I would be able to run again, even if I wanted to. This leaves me with having to face Lynn here, damn it, why did I ever think I could run from someone like Lynn? She is an athlete, and I am malnourished homeless kid, there was no way I was going to be able to out run her.

"I don't understand, why did you run?" Lynn asks, "we are just trying to help you."

"I can't go back Lynn, I won't go back." I mutter out, wrapping my arms around my knees and tucking them into me, as if they were a safety blanket.

Obviously hearing the fear in my voice, Lynn furrows her eyebrows in confusion before shifting positions. She moves to take a seat beside me, placing her hand on my bent knee as she does. It's quiet for a second, the only noise was that of the city which makes its way down the alley.

"There is something you are not telling us, isn't there." Lynn states and I cringe at her words.

I remain quiet, not willing to tell her that she was right, but my reaction was enough to tell her that she was.

"Look, I don't know what happened to you ." Lynn says with a little pause before continuing, "Obviously something has hurt you in some way, but whatever it was, it can't hurt you now."

"You don't know that Lynn," I whisper. She didn't know, it very much can hurt me now, hell it could even hurt me more if I ever fell back into its grasp.

Noticing my tone, Lynn shifts her arm to wrap around my shoulder pulling me in to a half a hug.

"You are right Linc, I don't know that." Lynn replies, her answer catching me off guard, "but what I do know is that you are my friend and I won't let anything bad happen to you, I also know a lot of sisters who would say the same."

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask.

"What?" Lynn responds with confusion.

"Why do you care so much? I am just a homeless kid that has just taken from you guys since I have met you, so why do you want to help me so much?" The question spills out of my mouth.

She is quite for a brief moment, probably trying to gather her thoughts on what I asked her. She then focuses her gaze on the wall across from us.

"Lincoln, do you remember, when you first met one of us?" Lynn questions still looking at the wall and I nod in affirmation, though she didn't see it as she was still looking at the wall across from us.

"Luan told us about that night, she said that she felt hopeless and scared, that she knew what was about to happen to her would have scarred her for life." Lynn says quietly, "that was until someone came to her rescue and took on all three of her attackers all by themselves. She said that the relief that she felt in that moment was insurmountable and that she would repay the person who stopped that unspeakable act from happening to her."

She pauses her speech and the quiet over takes us.

I knew that Luan was thankful for what I did, the talk on the Ferris wheel told me as much, but I didn't know she felt that strongly about wanting to help me.

"You helped her when you didn't have to and now we want to do the same for you" Lynn explains. "That's why we are trying to help you get off the streets, that's why I ran after you all this way, It's because we care about you, and we want to help you. We want you to have a better life."

"I want to believe that, I really do." I murmur meekly.

"Then what's stopping you?" Lynn asks finally taking her eyes of the opposite wall and turning to look at me.

"Something bad, something that has haunted me for the better part of my whole life." I respond noticing her arm that is around me get tense at my words.

"What is this 'something bad'?" Lynn questions, hoping for an answer I won't give.

I couldn't answer her. This is something I have a hard time thinking about, let alone talking about. The quiet between is dragged out until Lynn realised that she was not going to get an answer from me.

Probably feeling like this conversation is going nowhere and that she was getting no closer to convincing me to let them contact CPS, Lynn switches gears.

"Fine Lincoln, I may not be able to convince you to tell CPS, but I am not letting you spend one more night out here in the cold, we weren't lying when we said you look like you were dragged through a blender." Lynn says once again looking me over.

"I don't know" I say with uncertainty.

"I am not taking a no for an answer Lincoln, don't make me drag you back," Lynn says removing her arm and standing up.

Turning to me, she sticks out her hand in my direction.

To go back with her would be risky, especially because I know that she has only dropped the CPS thing for now and will definitely bring it up later. She is probably going to bring me back to the others and tell them what I said here in secret. Then, while I spend time with her and her sisters, they are going try to get the truth out of me piece by piece until they finally discover why I am so against contacting CPS.

"Please, let me do just one thing for you." She puts on a puppy dog face while begging, "I promise, I won't force you to do something you don't want to do, I just don't want you spending one more night out here."

The puppy eyes look she was giving me was having very little effect, but what Lynn saying was slowly getting to me. It would be nice to have a bed to sleep in, and she did say that they wouldn't force me to do anything I don't want to do.

That alone probably wouldn't be enough to convince me to go with her, but a pain in my throat combined with an ache in my shoulder reminded me that I am not in the best of health, which out here, could lead to my death if I am not careful. I don't think I can pass up this opportunity of a chance to get better, unfortunately.

A plan started to formulate in my head, a plan that I instantly feel guilty about considering.

I could go back with Lynn to her house and stay there for a couple of days. I give it around three days of them trying to get me to tell the truth before they go behind my back and contact CPS.

This provides me a few days to get better, and would allow me to receive a couple of free meals while I am there. And when I am finally feeling a hundred percent, I could just leave in the middle of the night.

The plan fully takes advantage of what Lynn was offering, and makes me feel like a terrible human being.

I try to justify doing this by telling myself that I would pay them back, but deep down, I knew I never would.

"Fine Lynn, I- I'll come back, but I am not talking to CPS." I say giving in and taking her hand, feeling bad about planning on running away later, but this is about what is best for my survival and what's best is getting better and not going back to 'him'.

She pulls me up and dusts me off with one of her hands.

"And I won't force you to." Lynn responds and I couldn't help feel like she was lying to me but before I could question it she speaks up again, "Come on, the girls are probably wondering where we are, I kind of left them in the dust."

Lynn starts to walk towards the exit of the alley and I follow behind her but stop in my tracks after a few steps.

"Wait, I need to grab my bag." I say and Lynn turns to look at me, "You go ahead I'll be right behind you."

She hesitates, like she wanted to say no to my request.

"Lynn, if you want me to trust you, than I need you to trust me." I say giving her a pleading look, ignoring how I am being a huge liar right now.

She looks to be at a cross road, her face scrunching up in indecision before she starts to nod with uncertainty "I trust you Lincoln, just don't take too long."

Lynn waits for a few seconds, looking at me, before turning and heading out of the alley.

Turning around myself, I head deeper into it, trying to find where I threw my back pack. I think it landed under one of the dumpsters.

Getting on my hands and knees, I spot it under the second dumpster, thankfully in arms reach. I crawl over to said dumpster and reach out towards the bag.

Grabbing it, I stand up and look towards the entrance of the alley, towards where Lynn is waiting.

It's kind of funny when I think about it, I was supposed to have left the Loud sisters alone a couple of days ago, but I am now finding myself being dragged back to them, only to plan and leave them again.

What the hell am I doing?

I shake my head to try to rid myself of these thoughts and focus on the task on hand.

All I have to do is survive a couple of days with them and their questions until I am better, without them convincing me to talk to CPS, how hard could it be?


	12. Late Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a late night.

The colours of orange and pink project on to the clouds above as the setting sun slowly sinks below the horizon of Royal Woods, being shielded by the tall grey buildings that littered the downtown area.

It was a pretty sight to look at as I trudge along with Luna, Luan, and Lynn as we make our way back to their house. I think back to just a half an hour ago, to when I returned with the sporty Loud back to her sisters.

Lynn had immediately told them about what she had promised me in the alley, about not forcing me to contact CPS and straight away both Luna and Luan were hesitant to go along with the agreement at first.

It took Lynn several minutes of convincing and bribing them to get them to somewhat agree with the promise as well. After that, we moved on to coming up with a plan for how I would be able to stay with them for the next couple of days without suspicion, and by we, I mean they came up with it.

It was quite a simple plan in all honesty. It came down to just telling their Mom and Dad that my 'parents' had left town for a couple of days and I need a place to stay while they are gone.

If they allow me to stay for those days, it would provide me with a chance to get better, which was great. Though, it would also allow the Loud girls those days to try to get the truth out of me.

I look ahead to see the three of them huddled into a little group whispering back and forth while occasionally shooting me a look to see if I am still following them.

Seeing the familiar large house that was 1216 Franklin Avenue coming up, I pick up some pace to bring myself up alongside the girls who suddenly stop talking. They were making it so obvious they were talking about me and I would be more annoyed by that but a sudden feeling of nerves fill my chest.

Nerves that made it feel like molten metal was being poured into my core, why was I so anxious? It would have made more sense to feel like this if I was maybe facing something like a lethal injection or a firing squad, but not the parents of ten girls.

Shaking my head and taking some deep breaths of the cold air before I walk with them up the path to their porch and let them lead the way into the house.

As I cross the threshold to the home, my nose is assaulted by the smell of cooking food and I am instantly hit in the face with warm air that was a far cry from the chilly winds that had been plaguing me the last couple of days.

"Ok dudes," Luna says bringing all of our attention on to her and then looking towards the jersey clad Loud girl, "Lynn can you go get Pop-star, so we can ask him to let Lincoln stay for a couple of days."

"Sure thing Lunes, " Lynn affirms while nodding at Luna before heading towards the kitchen, to where I presume the elder Loud is.

While she is gone, I take some time to glance around the room, trying to distract myself from the nerves I was feeling. Glancing around I notice that there were some cardboard boxes with a thin layer of dust on them in the corner of the room, by a large trophy case which almost had awards spilling out from one side.

Huh, I wonder what they are?

I was about to head over to have a little look inside of them but before I could, Lynn re-enters the room with her father coming in behind her.

"Ah, Lincoln it is great to see you again." Lynn Sr. says once he sees me standing there awkwardly in his sitting room, throwing out a hand for me to take.

"It's nice to see you again to sir." I polity respond taking his hand into mine and giving it a firm shake.

"Just call me Lynn, no need for any that 'sir' stuff." He assures me, "Now, what do you guys need this old fella for?"

Not wanting to be the first to say anything, I turn to look at the others and let them take the reins on the conversation.

"So Dad, Lincolns' parents have to go away for a couple of days, and we were wondering if he would be able to stay here while they are gone?" Lynn questions, I guess not wanting to beat around the bush.

"Well, that is kind of sudden, isn't it?" He asks looking at me for an answer, a little bit of shock on his face.

"Uh, yeah you see si- I mean Lynn, my grandmother is sick, and we couldn't afford for all of us to go and visit her," I lie to him through the skin of my teeth, caught off guard a bit by his attention being on me suddenly.

A look of sorrow comes to his eyes for some reason, and I couldn't help feel a bit guilty from the look he was giving me.

"Well, why I would have preferred if you had asked me first." He says giving his daughters a little glare, "I don't see why Lincoln couldn't stay until his parents get back."

I feel my body sag in relief and I could feel a sense of victory radiate off of the girls, as they all smile at one and other.

"Thanks Dad! You're the best!" Lynn exclaims getting up to give the man a small hug.

"I know, I know." He says, returning the hug he was getting before turning to look at me. "I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch though, Cliff may have popped the blow-up bed we had, apparently someone had left it out for him to claw to pieces."

I nod at what he said while glancing at Luna and Luan out of the corner of my eye to see that both of them have taken a sudden interest in the roof as they try to avoid making contact with the Senior Loud.

"Anyway, dinner will be in half an hour, you are going to love my Lynn-sagne! Lincoln" The man says happily with a wide smile as he turns to leave.

Luna pats me on the back and I turn to look at her.

"I told you he would be fine with it dude," she says giving me a 'told you so look'.

Ok, I had my doubts about the plan, but who could blame me? It's not like everyone would have parents that would be cool with their kids inviting someone over to stay for not just one night, but three.

"How was I supposed to know that your dad was one of the nicest people out there?" I shoot back.

"Yeah, Dad is pretty great, he is always there for us in one way or another." Lynn praises him while turning to nod at the other two girls, who nod back before they all stand up together.

"Wait, where are you guys going?" I question them and they all share a look.

"We have some things we got to do, um right now, you can watch television until dinner," Luan says quickly avoiding answering my question and turning to leave with the others.

Oh, they are so going somewhere to talk about me, probably to make up a plan to get me to spill the truth.

I need to be on guard for the next couple of days.

* * *

"Dinners ready"

Hearing the call, I look to Lucy who I was with right now.

After the girls had left me here alone, the dark-haired girl appeared out of nowhere, which may or may not had scared the living hell out of me.

After asking me what I was doing here, I told her that I would be staying for a couple of days and I could have sworn I saw a little smile grace her face, but I could be imagining things.

She then asked me to help her with some poems that she was stuck on and seeing as I had nothing else to do, I agreed to lend her a hand. The next half an hour or so was spent with her going through each poem she had drafted, with me listening to everyone and offering words that would fit well with what she was looking for.

She lets out a sigh before getting up, "Come on, let's go get something to eat."

Following her out of her shared room and down the stairs, I turn the corner with her to the dining room, and I am confronted with a scene that any normal person would describe as loud.

All the sisters were seated at the table, each of them talking over each other creating an amalgamation of noise which assaults my eardrums.

Lucy didn't seem fazed at all and continues deeper into the room claiming an empty chair at the table.

The same could not be said for me.

As I was used to being alone, the room in front of me was very daunting. When was the last time I was even in the same room as all the Loud sisters? I can't even remember.

"Lincoln," I hear Lynn Sr. voice say over the noise, from the door that leads into the kitchen, "Why don't you take this and grab a seat near the end of the table."

The man gestures to the side of the table closest to him with a hand that had a plate in it.

Looking at the seat he was pointing at, I notice that Lori and Lisa were sat on either side. The idea of sitting next to either of them did not sound great but I had no other options but to take it.

Walking up to him, I take the plate with food on it out of his hands, before turning towards the chair by the table. I see Lori was engaged in a conversation with Leni, who sat on her other side, with a phone gripped firmly in her hand as her thumbs typed away without her looking.

Sitting in the seat, I take in all the food on the table. Some would say it was too much but just watching it disappear like lighten told me that this amount was normal to them.

"Lincoln, I am surprised to see you again," Lisa says, not taking her eyes off of her plate, "I was under the postulation that you have left for good, albeit you told me you would come back."

"I assumed that you were going to keep my secret," I respond quickly, "you said you wouldn't tell them."

"Correction, I verbally expressed I had no such room in my encephalon for your tomfoolery, so I passed it on to Lynn who had ample space in her head" She explains forking some food into her mouth as she does.

"Yeah, but.." I close my mouth at a loss for words, what she was saying was technically the truth and I really couldn't argue her logic.

"Anyway, I am glad you have decided to return on your own accord," She says ominously, leveling her stare at me, "I was really not looking forward to hunting you down."

"Hunt me down? Why would you do that?" I ask with some shock.

"I told you to come back and visit, something you told me you would do, I was just going to make sure you were going to do it." She spears a slice of lasagne as she says this, getting her message across before turning back to her meal ending the conversation.

Shifting to my plate, I could feel another pair of eyes looking at me from my other side, glancing over I could see Lori was giving me a suspicious look. Trying my best to ignore her, I keep my gaze on the plate in front of me as I push the food around in circles, hoping that she will look away soon.

"So, Lincoln." I cringe as my name leaves her mouth, and I quickly look over to meet her eyes, "I heard from Leni, who heard from Lola, who heard from Lucy that you will be staying the next couple of days."

Nodding at her words, I flick my eyes off to the side before opening my mouth, "Uh, yeah my parents had to leave town on short notice, so here I am."

She gives a little hum in response, "I hope you remember that little talk we had on the couch."

"Yeah, I still have no intention of letting anything bad happen to your sisters," I tell her, hell! I was actively trying to stay away from them but some magical force or something keeps dragging me back into their grip, I can't be blamed for running into them in nearly every corner of the city.

"Good," she states firmly, giving me a warning glare before turning back to Leni to continue whatever conversation they were having.

Once again turning back to my own plate, I decide that I should probably at least take a bite even though I am not that hungry for some reason. Putting a bit of food into my mouth, I was actually surprised by how good it was, this is the best meal I have tasted in a while.

Taking another bite, this time a bigger one, I hope that no one else at this table tries and talk to me as I really want to enjoy this tasty dish in peace.

This will be probably the last time I will get to eat Lasagne this good, so I will try to savour every moment of it.

* * *

Nausea clawed at my stomach, and I could feel bile trying to force its way up through my throat, making me lurch forward over the toilet in front of me. The pungent smell of the sick already inside the lavatory invades my nostrils causing me to dry heave one more time.

Squinting my eyes, I hold the position I am in for a couple minutes or so, teetering on the edge of throwing up and not.

I knew I wasn't over my sickness, how could I be? It's not like spending the last couple of days out in the cold was doing wonders for my body, I just didn't know it was this bad.

Maybe I was just ignoring the pain, trying not to let it interfere with me getting important things such as food or water, but now that I have an actual chance to rest, I guess my body is finally coming to terms with being sick.

I wait for a few seconds for the feeling of nausea to pass before I allow myself to shift into a crossed legged position on the tiled floor, taking deep breaths of the stale cold air that filled the room as I do.

I sit here in the darkroom just breathing in and out slowly, enjoying the little respite I was getting from vomiting. As I lean back, I put all my weight on to my left arm to avoid worsening the ache in my right shoulder, which seemed to be acting up.

I have had cuts and stab wounds before, it was just a thing that happened when you lived on the streets. Usually, the cuts would have started to heal by now, but taking one glance at my sliced shoulder and I could immediately tell that this cut was different, It just didn't look to be getting better.

Standing up, I flush the toilet not even bothering to check how bad it looked inside of it. Shuffling to the bathroom door, I reach out and turn the key as I had actually remembered to lock it this time not wanting a repeat of what happened last time I was in this room.

It was around two in the morning, so I had to make sure not to make to much noise as I creep through the hallway and down the stairs.

After successfully reaching my makeshift bed on the couch, I climb under the covers the Loud girls provided me and curl up into a ball while closing my eyes to go to sleep.

It takes about fifteen minutes of tossing and turning before I crack open my eyes and sigh to myself, it seemed as if sleep was alluding me. I was having the same issue I had from the last time I slept here, it was just too comfortable, my body was just to used too the feeling of hard ground.

Deciding I wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon, I sit up and look around the room before my eyes land on the television.

I guess I could watch some T.V. to help me to sleep, I think to myself whilst kicking my feet off the couch and standing up. Making my way around the coffee table, I bend down to flick on the television and feel slightly relieved that it wasn't turned up too loud, I wouldn't want to wake anyone u-

*Creak*

Turning around with surprising speed, I see Lynn on the bottom step of the stairs looking at me with some intrigue.

"Couldn't sleep either?" She asks me from where she was.

Looking her over, I see that she was wearing her pyjamas and swaying back and forth from what I can only assume was tiredness. I am not going to lie, it kind of looked like she has just woken up and forced herself to get out of bed, but that would be ridiculous.

"No, not really," I whisper, answering her honestly, "I thought that maybe some late night T.V. would help bore me to sleep."

Lynn takes the final step off of the stairs, and she gives a little wince as her bare feet come in to contact with the cold ground of the sitting room.

"Mind if I join you," not even waiting for an answer, Lynn plops herself down on to the couch and pats the vacant space beside her for me to sit.

Shaking my head, I make my way back to the couch and sit down on the spot that Lynn was tapping.

I let myself sink into the couch and begin to flick through the channels to find anything worth watching, but I couldn't help notice that Lynn was starting to shiver ever so slightly. Thinking quickly, I lean over and grab a blanket that was given to me by one of the other sisters and drape it over the both of us.

I give a little nod at the 'thank you' that Lynn gives me as she sighs slightly in relief, snuggling deeper into the blanket.

It was quiet after that, the only noise coming from the shitty B movie we were watching, a movie from what I could tell was about a bunch of birds attacking people. It was around the scene with the main characters were swinging clothing hangers at terrible CGI birds, when Lynn speaks up next with something that catches me off guard.

"What is it like?" She asks and I look at her with some confusion, "living on the streets I mean."

We were heading into some dangerous territory, and I could sense that Lynn was looking for some information.

"It's hard," I answer simply

"Hard in what way," Lynn asks looking for more of an answer.

"Hard in not knowing that if you are going to get something to eat every day, or if you will survive the night, that you might be attacked for the little things you own." I start to say finding myself going on a little rant, "That everybody looks at you like you are less than dirt or just outright ignore your existence because if they don't acknowledge you than you are not their problem."

"Then why won't you let us help," Lynn loudly whispers, "We could get you away from all that."

"Because suffering through that will always be better than going back to h-" I cut myself off before I finish my sentence. I wanted to slap myself in the face for almost revealing one of my darkest secrets, I must be exhausted.

"Going back to what?" Lynn asks with interest, leaning forward to get a better look at me.

"Leave it Lynn," I state with some firmness telling her that I am not willing to talk about it.

"It's that 'something bad' you had mentioned in the alleyway isn't it," Lynn states looking for an answer but I refuse to say anything more.

I re-focus my attention back on to the television and ignore the looks that Lynn was shooting my way.

"I just wish you could tell us about what happened." She mutters, but I ignore her.

It was quiet for a few more minutes, but I could sense that Lynn wanted to ask more questions so it was no surprise when she opens her mouth to speak again, but what was a surprise was what she asked me.

"Lincoln..., what were your parents like?"

She looks at me and I could sense the trepidation in her voice, probably worried about overstepping some invisible boundary and by some chance angering me.

"They died when I was very young so... I don't remember much of them." Besides from the once-off dreams I get of them, I really don't have any real memories of my parents, I can barely remember what they look like, "but from what I recall, I would say that they were happy..., that we were happy."

"That sounds nice," Lynn murmurs softly.

"It was, the only thing I have to remember them is m-" I begin to say, bringing my hand up to try to clasp something around my neck, but then I remember what had happened days ago, "was my necklace."

"How... how did they.. you know." She looks down while asking me, seemingly taking more interest in her clasped hands, but was obviously trying not to make eye contact with me.

I let my eyes unfocus as I remember a talk that I was giving a year after the accident, an orphanage worker sat me down and told me about what happened when I kept asking questions about where my parents went.

"A car crash," I utter out, feeling my eyes water a bit. "They both didn't make it and all I got was a stupid chipped tooth to remind me of the accident that took them."

"I'm so sorry" I feel Lynn place a hand on my knee, making me turn to look at her. She was wearing a frown on her face and was looking at me with pity in her eyes.

"Don't be" I state looking away from her, before I feel a little bit of anger flow through me, "it's not your fault, it was that fucker who thought they could make it home while drunk."

I don't know who that person was, or even if they survived the crash or not, but what I do know was that they cost me everything. They took away my chance a happy life with parents who loved me, they were the reason why I spent a good half of my life with 'him'.

Probably sensing how worked up I was getting, Lynn retracts her hand from my knee and leans back on to the couch, getting lost in her thoughts. I am kind of glad she didn't continue the conversation, I don't like thinking about that day, it just reminds me of what could have been.

Getting lost in my own thoughts like Lynn, I totally miss twenty minutes pass, only realising that I had spaced out when I feel some pressure on my good shoulder.

Looking over, I see Lynn had falling asleep and was using me as a pillow, I guess she could sleep after all.

There is no way I would be able to carry her up the stairs back to her room, I am just not strong enough to do that, I also didn't really want to wake her up, so I was left with one choice. Sighing to myself, I slowly get up off of the couch while making sure to lower Lynn's head down on to the pillow that was given to me.

Grabbing the blanket and pulling it over her body, I tuck her in while making sure that she didn't wake up from me moving her.

Taking a seat in front of the couch, I turn towards the T.V just as the end credits on the movie start to roll and think to myself,

Just a couple more days.


	13. Dreaming Of A White Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sweet Dreams

_An impromptu puppet show arranges itself on to the wall directly across from my bed. The many outlines of my sparse belongings being the stars of the show as the moonlight pouring through the window projects their shadows across the barren room._

_Lying down on the old creaky bed, I could feel my fingers restlessly twitch along with the pounding of my heart, a fire spreads itself out in my lungs causing each breath taken to come out in short and quick exhales._

_'It's now or never..' a meek voice sounds off in my head, reminding me of why I was feeling like my heart is about to burst through my chest with each beat._

_I am still for a couple of seconds before I will my body to move with great effort._

_Swinging my legs off the edge of the old worn mattress, I ignore how it feels like I was moving through some invisible force that was pushing hard against every movement I was trying to make._

_Once my feet reach the wooden floor, I quickly stand up before I find some way to convince myself not to go through with what I was about to do, knowing how incredibly easy it would be for me to do so._

_Forming my hands into fists, I squeeze them firmly with my palms crying out in pain as my nails dig their way into the bare skin, the feeling serving as a way to distract from the ever-increasing nerves ravaging my whole body._

_Fabric brushes against my right calve which causes my body to recoil Slightly in shock with my eyes instantly dropping to the floor where I spot my bag leaning up against my old decrepit bed._

_Bringing one hand to my face, I let out an elongated sigh before bending swiftly down and flinging the bag on to my shoulder, the weight of it almost throwing me off balance. Inside were items I was going to need for the next couple of weeks, ranging from clothes and food that I was able to sneak past 'him' when he wasn't paying attention._

_Swallowing the claws of anxiety that were trying to force their way up through my throat, I cautiously take one step forward, then another and another. With each step taken, I could feel some sort of determination explode its way through the raging storm of anxiety that was swirling around my core._

_Placing my palm on to the handle of the door that leads to a hallway, I couldn't help think that this could be it, this could be the end of all my pain and suffering. The end of every **BEATING** and **ABUSE** that I have endured at the hands of '**HIM**', the end of sneaking food so I don't **STARVE** to death or looking over my shoulder to make sure that I wasn't being watched in case I make any mistakes that could be deemed punishable by **THE DARKROOM**._

_It could be all over if I just do this._

_Opening the door just enough for me to slip my small frame through it, I step out into a dark and ominous hallway. Glancing to the right down the hallway, I look at each door that was closed and instantly assign each room that laid behind them, bathroom, closet, 'his' room and the spare room, none of which were my destination._

_Shaking my head, I instead turn to the left and head towards the stairs which lead down to be directly beside the front door. Standing at the top of the staircase, I peer down at the door to the outside world that was lined with many locks that any other person would think was to keep people out, but I knew their true purpose._

_Light from the sitting room flowed into the downstairs hallway and was accompanied by the sound of harsh snoring from the only other person in this godforsaken house._

_It looks like the sleeping medication I was able to slip into his drink was doing its work. I can not describe the terror I felt while spiking the man's drink, it was so bad that I nearly threw up three times while going through with it but thankfully that part of the plan went off without a hitch._

_That being said, I still need to be careful here as there was still a chance that he could wake up. If he did somehow manage to escape the sleeping world then he would catch me doing what I am about to do, and well, that would end up in a lot of pain for me._

_Descending the stairs, I take each step as slowly and quietly as I can, cringing at every noise that emits from the wooden steps. Reaching the bottom step, I carefully peer into the sitting room and spot him reclining on his armchair, the spiked can of whatever alcohol he had chosen for the night sitting on the coffee table in front of him._

_Tearing my eyes away from him, I take the last step on to the tiled hallway floor and steel my nerves for what felt like the hundredth time this night._

_Just as I was about to turn to head to the kitchen, I spot something on the floor in front of the main door of the house. Letting my eyes focus on the object, I make out that it was a letter addressed to one **'Mr. Matthew Edwards'.**_

_The name rips through my head like a searing hot rod, causing my body to stumble backward with me only being able to stop myself from falling by grabbing onto the banister of the stairs._

_Catching my breath, I look back down at the letter while bringing a hand to cover my mouth._

_That name, I have only said it twice before in my life, the first time was at the orphanage when I was introduced to the man who would be my tormentor for the next five years of my life, he just laughed at me saying it then. Looking back on it now, I should have realized how twisted that laughed sounded but I was just a kid who could bearly look anyone in the eyes, let alone perceive just how off someone's laugh was._

_The second time I said that name was quite close to the first time._

_Just after being adopted, I was told to call him dad by the man himself but when Instead I called him by his name, I remember how his face morphed into one of anger and how I wasn't able to walk straight for the next couple of weeks._

_After that, I never uttered or thought about his name again, it just reminded me of what he did to me when I did say his name, instead, I took to just referring to him as, well. 'him'._

_Forcing myself to move my eyes away from the harmless name written on the envelope, I get back on track with what I was doing, which was getting out of this hell._

_Creeping towards the Kitchen, I enter the room and scan around not even raising an eyebrow at all the locks on the cupboards, designed to keep me from opening them and "Stealing" food. Only coming down for when a social worker comes to visit._

_Ignoring them, I let my eyes land on what I was looking for which was the kitchen window placed behind the lone sink in the room. Shuffling my way deeper into the kitchen and over to the sink, I feel an item in my pocket become heavy as if it is reminding me it was there._

_Shoving my hand into my jean pocket, I pull out an item that is making all of this possible, that being the key to the lock that was firmly closed around the handle of the window preventing it from being opened._

_Getting this key was pure luck, in all honesty._

_He somehow forgot to put it away after using it to open the window to vent the room of smoke a couple of days ago when I accidentally brunt his dinner while cooking it. I wince at the consequence of this accident, rubbing the bruises on my arms as I do._

_In my five years of surviving here, he never once left any key to the locks out, always making sure they were out of my reach in one way or another. But this one time he made a mistake allowing me to get my hands on my only salvation of freedom._

_Not wanting to waste any time, I climb my way up onto the kitchen counter, it being easy to do so due to my light frame and slot the key into the lock._

_This is it, I am going to be free, twisting the key, the lock pops off with ease. Putting it down gently, I reach out and grasp the handle to the window. I begin to open it, enjoying the breeze of midnight air blowing past my face, this is it I a-_

_"Lincoln?" The voice makes me jump and it takes me a few seconds to realize that it was coming from behind me._

_Knowing what was about to happen, I push my way out the window, landing harshly on my chest, knocking the wind out of me. The sound of locks, hitting the ground makes its way to my ears, causing me to glance over to the back door where it was coming from._

_Groaning to myself, I stumble to my feet and make a run for the back of the garden that was lined with a fence, "YOU LITTLE SHIT," A shout comes from behind me which encourages me to move faster._

_"GET BACK HERE," I hear him say from a few steps behind me, as I climb up and over the fence._

_Not waiting for anything, I sprint away from the fence trying to put as much distance between me and the house as possible._

_"YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN FROM ME? WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I WI- "_

"Lynn! What are you doing on the couch?"

A raspy voice invades my head, dragging my sleeping conscious back to the land of the living, lending me a hand in escaping that... dream?... memory?... It doesn't matter.

Slowly, I move my left arm off of my face from its position of covering my eyes before rapidly blinking my eyelids to combat the bright light from the sun that was doing its best to invade my pupils and blind me.

Giving myself a few seconds to let the world come into focus around me, I take note of my position on the floor beside the couch, the events of the previous night slamming their way back into my tired mind.

Glancing towards the noise that had awoken me from my sleep, I see that it was Luna, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs dressed in the same pyjamas that she had worn the last time I had slept here with only one addition, which was the fluffy purple slippers that she had on her feet.

Her arms were draped across her chest and there was a questioning look to her eyes, them being focused on something just to the left of me.

Feeling another pair of eyes boring into me from the same direction Luna was looking, I glance up from where I was on the floor towards the couch and see that Lynn was staring at me with a concentrated look, her eyebrows were drawn together like she was trying to solve a mystery.

Before anyone could say anything else, Lynn quickly throws the blanket I had tucked her in with last night off of herself and flies across the room, barging past Luna going up the stairs as she does.

The questioning look that was once aimed at Lynn finds its way towards me and all I could give in return was a one-shoulder shrug.

Luna only sighs in return before mumbling something about, "it being too early" and her "needing coffee before dealing with something like this" as she shuffles her way into the dining room.

Getting up I decide that I should probably try to at least get some breakfast in me.

* * *

"LOUDS ASSEMBLE"

The call reverberates throughout the house, almost making me drop the spoon full of Zombie Bran cereal that I was somehow able to wrangle for myself in the hectic rush that, what I can only assume, was a typical morning for the Loud girls.

Hearing the footsteps of many people, I glance up from my place at the table in the dining room and spy Lola and Lucy exiting from the kitchen, heading straight towards the sitting room where the call had originated.

Feeling my curiosity being peaked, I lower the spoon that was hovering midway to my mouth back into the bowl in front of me before pushing it away altogether.

Kicking my chair backward, I hop off and make my way to the Louds living area.

Standing just by the door between both rooms, I take in the scene in front of me.

All ten of the sisters were gathered on the couch, taking up pretty much all of the space that the piece of furniture had to offer. I had to admit, I am kind of surprised that the thing could take the combined weight of all of them, it was hardly new or anything, looking as if they had the couch for a couple of years or more.

Scanning the group, I see that Lynn was staring at me from her position on the armrest at the far end of the couch, spotting me looking back at her, she immediately directs her attention onto her mother who was standing in front of the couch by the coffee table with a smile plastered on her face.

Shaking off the look she was giving me, I to give Mrs. Loud my full attention as she opens her mouth to speak.

"Kids, as it is getting close to Christmas," She starts off saying as the smile on her face seemingly gets bigger, "I have decided that instead of me doing everything this year by myself, you will all be helping with the chri-"

"CHRISTMAS DECORATING!" The blonde-haired women was interrupted by her husband who was coming down the stairs with a large cardboard box in his hands.

If I thought that the mother's smile was wide then I was sorely mistaken as the grin that was present on the man's face put any other I have seen to utter shame.

Placing the box down onto the ones I spotted yesterday sitting in the corner by the extremely ridiculous trophy case, the man takes a step back and looks to all his daughters that were gathered on the couch, the ten of them having to shift their positions to give him their full attention.

Huh, so I guess the boxes were Christmas decorations...

"Now, I have come up with a plan of action with jobs for all of you that should help get this done in no time at al-" The man begins to say only to be stopped mid-sentence when Lola flings herself off of the couch.

"OH, I call doing the tinsel!" She exclaims while swiftly moving towards the box pile.

Her sudden declaration causes a chain reaction of all the girls getting up and storming the mountain of cardboard themselves, each trying to claim a job.

Lynn. Sr watches on in non-surprise, almost like he was expecting this very thing to happen, bringing a hand up to his face while sighing to himself.

Each girl digs through whatever box that they could get their hands on, pulling out various decorations, from the tinsel that Lola had mentioned, to wreaths and fairy lights, before spreading out around the house to begin decorating.

I couldn't help but feel awkward watching the sisters go about their self-assigned jobs, giggling and smiling all the while, giving me the feeling of being an outsider, like I really didn't belong here and to be honest, I really didn't.

I should be out on the streets relieving people of their hard-earned money while trying not to get stabbed by some junkie with nothing to lose, not in a warm house with the sound of laughter permeating through the air.

"Lincoln," Mrs. Loud says bringing her attention on to me once she makes sure no fights were about to break out over who gets what task, "Why don't you help Luna hang up the stockings, she might need a helping hand, as you could probably tell, there are a lot of them."

A little chuckle escapes her mouth before she pulls out a plaid table cloth from a nearby box, holding it close to her chest while giving Leni a warning look.

I look at the options laid out before me, I could go back to the dining room, back to my now probably soggy bowl of cereal or I could, for just this once, try to enjoy myself.

Eh, I wasn't enjoying that cereal that much anyway.

Shuffling my way to the opposite side of the room to where the fireplace was, I do my best to avoid getting in the way of the others who were hard at work making this place look festive, from Lana wrapping garlands around the coffee table legs to Luan who was laying out festive pillows on to the couch that of course had some Christmas puns on them.

"Hey Lincoln," the girl in the purple skull t-shirt greets me as I arrive at the fireplace that judging by the size of it, was nowhere near big enough to fit all the stockings which where scattered on the floor around Luna, "Heard that you are here to help me with the stocking hanging dude."

"Hi Luna," I return her greeting with a quick wave, "yeah, though I don't think that there will be enough room for all of them."

"Eh, doesn't matter dude, we'll make them fit," Luna waves away my concern before taking a step back and tripping over a yellow stocking that she accidentally step on.

Acting quickly, I reach out and grab one of her flailing arms and pull her back on to a standing position, "Woah, that was close!" I exclaim once she is back firmly on her feet.

"Thanks, Lincoln," Luna says with her balance is fully restored while giving a quick glance down at which stocking she had almost slip on and muttering to herself, "of course it was Luans..."

"You need to be more careful Luna!" A voice exclaims from somewhere by the couch, "if you had fallen it would have been 'Elful' ho ho ho, yes! first pun of Christmas down."

Ignoring her, Luna bends down and scoops up most of the stockings into her arms before depositing them into mine, "here, hold these for me."

Disappearing for a few seconds, Luna returns with a hammer and many nails which she puts down on top of the fireplace.

Not wasting any time, we get to work putting these things up, with me holding them in place for Luna to strike the nail into the wall. We have around six stockings attached to the wall when Luna speaks up again.

"It must be pretty weird huh," She says not taking her eyes off of the hammer as she strikes the nail straight on the head, "I can probably tell that Christmas time on the streets is quite different."

I wince slightly before casting a quick look around the room to make sure that no unwanted people were listening in what was being said, noticing that Lori and Luan were having a heated discussion by the front door.

Brushing that off, I turn my head back to Luna and give her a quick nod that she couldn't see as her concentration was on not hitting my hand with the hammer.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." I start to say, "You don't really get the chance to celebrate the holiday out there, most of your time is taken up trying not to, well... die of the cold and starvation."

My sentence stops Luna mid-swing, her face becoming strangely emotionless but it doesn't keep me from continuing talking.

"The closet that we homeless get to Christmas is when the city decides to hang up Christmas decorations throughout the streets, but honestly, those are just constant reminders that the city would rather spend money on pretty lights instead of helping us." I rant out, almost forgetting to keep my voice in a whisper.

BANG*

The sound of the hammer striking a nail with great force causes my body to jump a little, almost making me drop all the stockings in my arms.

"That... sucks, I could never imagine spending any Christmas like that." She mumbles to me after a few seconds of quiet, her eyes cast down to the floor in thought, "At least you had some good Christmases in the orphanage right?"

"Orpha-? I mean, Uh, yeah they were great." I lie through the skin of my teeth, almost exposing another lie that I told them in the park, "lots of Christmas lights, presents, and other stuff."

Believe it or not, the Christmases I have spent on the streets have been some of the better ones of my life, because the ones spent with 'him' were less than fun and that's putting it lightly.

I think back to the very last Christmas I spent with the man, how the room was adorned with every imaginable Christmas themed decoration, creating the picture of a loving home, but I knew it was a facade, one designed to trick the social workers when they came to visit and check on my progress.

The lights only ever came on when they were there, the rest of the time they were left lifeless hanging on the tree, a constant reminder of what I could be experiencing.

I remember when I was six years old, being as naive as I was, I turned on the Christmas lights one evening. I recall being in tranced by the multi-colored display, how it made the cold walls of the living room come alive with warmth, how it made me feel normal for a couple of blessed minutes, and even though I was eventually caught sitting looking at the light display and was subsequently thought not to waste 'electricity' by 'him', I still think about that moment fondly.

"Lincoln?"

Luna pulls me out of my thoughts with a concerned and confused expression blossoming on her face, "are you ok? you kind of zoned out there."

"Uh, yeah just thinking about something," I respond to her, before realizing that we were actually done hanging up the stockings.

I must have just subconsciously moved along while thinking.

Looking at we had done, I see that we hung up almost half of the socks on the fireplace, with the other half running off onto the wall just to left.

"Luna?" A voice sounds off from behind us, causing the two of us to turn and face the person, which was surprisingly Lori.

She had a sweet smile on her face, that for some reason did not match the look in her eye, a look that was putting me on edge.

"What's up to Lori?" Luna asks her.

"Nothing much, I was just wondering how your Christmas song was coming along this year?" The older sister questions leaning in a little bit, while putting her hands behind her back.

"Oh my god dudes," Luna exclaims bringing her hands up to cover her mouth, "I totally forgot about my Christmas song, I am so behind."

Without saying another word, Luna rushes off, heading up the stairs and presumably to her room.

Watching her go, Lori quickly turns back to face me, her expression now matching her eyes as her face is now set in stone.

"So Luan told me the reason you were staying over was that your grandmother was sick." She says with a neutral tone.

"Uh, yeah my parents had to go see her," I respond slowly, feeling some odd tension in the air.

"That's funny, I could have sworn that you said that your grandfather was sick a while back." I did? I might have used it as a lie, I tell so many of them, it is hard to keep track "So what are the chances that your grandmother is sick now also."

This is not good, she is catching on to my lies. Feeling a lump form in my throat, I take a little step back, a sweat breaking out on my brow.

"So tell me Lincoln, why are you lying to us? and more importantly, what are you hiding from them." Her eyes narrow and she gestures vaguely towards where her sisters were, obviously talking about Luan, Lynn, and Luna.

"I'm n-no-t-t ly-i-ing t-to t-hem," Ironically that was the truth, I wasn't lying to the three of them, I was only lying to the rest of them.

Before I could try and defend myself any more, the front door flies open revealing the figure of Lynn Sr. who was wrapped up warm in winter gear.

His presences causes Lori to let go of me and take a quick step back.

"Ah Lincoln, would you mind getting a box full yard decorations out of the basement for me?" He asks me, "Some of the girls, while they won't admit it, are afraid of the room."

Seeing this as a way out of the uncomfortable situation, I nod my head rapidly and rush off towards the door that leads to the stairs going down into the blackness.

Being used to dark places, I don't hesitate to fling myself down the stairs, getting to the bottom of the steps in what could be described as record time.

What am I going to do about her? I have no idea... I might have to cut my stay here short. Hell, I may have to move city, because if I run away now, the sisters will definitely try and find me.

Sighing to myself, I head deeper into the room, taking my time to find the box, not wanting to go back up to an angry Lori, who I know is waiting for me.

Spending a couple of minutes to find the box, I eventually locate it placed beside the washing machine and dryer. Looking through the box I see that it contains some fake reindeer and gingerbread men, obviously meant for out door decoration.

Picking it up, I turn around and nearly let out a yelp as I spot a figure standing at the bottom of the stairs, making it out to be Lynn. Jr.

She was looking down at her clasped hands, her face cast in the shadows, all of a sudden she looks up and what she says causes fear to rush through me.

"Lincoln... who is Matthew Edwards?"


	14. Nothing But The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A much needed truthful talk!

"Lincoln... who is Matthew Edwards.."

CRASH*

The sound of the box that was once held tightly in my hands hitting the cold hard cement floor of the basement fills the room, breaking the almost soul crushing silence that followed when the last word had left Lynns mouth.

How? How does she know that NAME? HOW? does she know 'HIS' name?

I stumble backwards, the world moving around me in a blur, making it near impossible for me to stop myself from hitting the wall that was directly behind me hard, the pain barely making its way through the fog that was filling my mind.

Inside of my head there was a tornado of fears and thoughts spinning out of control, each one getting worst as they come to the forefront of my mind, does she know who 'he' is? Has she met 'him'? Has 'he' gotten to her? Lori is right, I am a danger to these girls, I need to run... I need to run and never look back.

My knees give out beneath me, causing my back to scrape along the brick wall of the basement before I land harsly on my ass, knocking out what ever breath I had left within me.

They are all going to get hurt in the end just by knowing me, how did I ever think that I was good enough to even associate with people like them, I am not even on th-

"Lincoln!" a sudden pressure is put onto my good shoulder, instantly halting all the negative thoughts in my mind, "please look at me Linc."

Willing my head to move, I look up to meet the worried gaze of Lynn who was kneeling down in front of me, an outstreched hand resting firmly on my shoulder, like it was somehow anchoring me to the real world, "You are safe, no one can hurt you here and before you say anything, I do know that for sure now."

A quick flash of a memory of us in a city alleyway fills my mind, oddly familiar to the scene that was playing out right now, with the only difference being that she now knows the truth behind everything.

"H-ow, how do you know that name?" I ask her, finally finding my voice.

I watch as she tears her soft brown eyes off of mine and casts her look towards the ground before responding simply, "I guess no one has ever told you that you talk a lot in your sleep."

Funnily enough, no, no one has ever told me that I talk in my sleep, its not like I would have provided anyone with the chance to find something like that out about me, that was until once again I lowered my defences and let one of the loud girls get to a secret that no one should have ever gotten to.

"His the something bad that you mention to me in the alley way, isn't he," Lynn sates instead of asks, like she already made up her mind on the answer already, "the thing you refuse to go back to."

I don't respond to the words she is saying, there is no point in doing so, it's not like I can deny it now, not after the reaction I had to just hearing 'His' name, I would be a fool to even try. Instead I pull my legs closer to my chest and tuck my head into my knees, like I was doing my best to hide from the outside world around me.

"Lincoln who is he?" Lynns questions, probably noticing my almost never ending silence, "What has he done to you?"

Lifting my head up to look at her once more, I open my mouth to answer when she abruptly holds up her hand to stop me, killing the words in my throat.

"Before you answer, I just want to say that I want the truth this time Lincoln," Lynn says seriously, her eyebrows forrowing on her head as she does, "Don't simply give me some half baked lie, I want to know what happened for real, so please just tell me about what really happened to you."

I couldn't help but flinch as the words leave her mouth, each one of them hurting me for some reason. It's not like I could blame her for saying what she said, nearly every conversation I have had with Lynn and her sisters has been based on lie upon lie, it make sense that they would catch on to my bad habit of keeping things to myself.

Sighing , I hang my head low as I begin to speak, "a couple of days ago, back on the park bench, when I told you about me living in an orphanage, I was only telling half the truth."

Lynn suddenly moves, taking a seated postion beside me with her legs crossed beneath her while putting an arm around me, not saying a single word as she does.

I wait till she is settled before I say the next part, "My parents did die when I was four," the arm around me tenses sligtly but I ignore this and continue on, "and I did stay at an orphanage for a while but in reality I only spent around a year there before I was 'adopted' by a certain man."

"Matthew Edwards," I hear Lynn whisper, causing me to physically cringe as the words float their way into my ears, my reaction catching Lynns attention, "sorry, sorry, I won't say 'his' name again."

"Everything started off as normal, but unfortunatly for me it went down hill quickly," went down hill? Is that how I am descirbing it? well I guess it is better than anything else.

"what do you mean 'it went down hill quickly'?" Lynn asks softly, leaning forward to get a better look at me.

My brian scrambles for the right words but nothing comes to mind, how do I begin to describe the years of abuse and torture that I have endured at the hands of that monster with out breaking down into a pityful pile of a human being? There is just no easy way to put it.

Instead I do the next best thing.

Sitting up straight, my hand slowly raises to the zipper belonging to the jacket that Leni had bought for me what seemed like a lifetime ago but was probably only a couple of weeks back or so. Pulling it down, I swiftly shed the layer of clothing leaving me in the orange polo also bought by the sandal wearing Loud sister.

"What are you doi-," I shake my head at Lynn and stop her mid-sentence, I need to concentrate fulling on this, or I will never go with through with it.

Grabbing the hem of the polo, I pause slightly to give my self the courage to follow through with what I was about to do. With great speed, I lift the shirt up to reveal some of my stomach and parts of my back, shivering as the cold air in the room attacks the exposed skin instantly.

The silence that followed was deafening, with it filling the room like water and once again making it hard for me to breath. I wait for the explosion of sound that the silence was promising but it didn't come.

Instead I feel an unexpected hand touch my uncovered core, making me somewhat recoil from the contact and instantly glance over at Lynn.

Her face was morphed into one of shock and horror as she inspects the small portion of my skin that was on show. Her eyes are running through so emotions it is hard to make out what exactly she was feeling or thinking, "Oh my god..."

Following her intense stare down to my own body, I sigh at what I see. Around my torso was mark after mark, from scars to brusies and burns, it was as if my skin was a canvas and each belmish was the paint that was used to compose a painting, a depressing picture of my past.

'He' was smart, I had to give 'him' that. 'He' never once left a mark or bruise on any visable part of my body, always making sure that each "correction" was done on places that I could easily cover up.

"Lincoln, this is... this is..." Whatever Lynn tries to say never comes out, the words failing to escape from her mouth.

"Bad?" I do my best to finish her sentence for her, "Yeah, I know."

"BAD!" Lynn loudly exclaims while standing up with me quickly following her, pulling my polo back down and my jacket over me again, "bad is when you miss your third hit in a row during a baseball game, unlucky even, bad is when you accidently get yourself banned from the public pool, bad is when you leave a very hateful message on your sisters voice mail when she breaks your favourite bat."

Lynn starts to pace around the room, her anger becoming more eveident, "This is not bad, It may be evil, terrible, vile, sick or all of the above but this is definetaly not just BAD."

With her rant done, she takes a couple of seconds to take a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down before she turns to look at me with fire in her eyes, "We need to tell someone."

"NO!" My shout even surprises me, as I surge forward to latch on to Lynns arm as she tries to turn and leave the room, "we can't tell anyone Lynn."

Lynn looks at me with confusion, "And why the hell not? Linc, look at what that.. that.. that bastard has done to you! How do you expect me to sit back and let him be free after seeing all those scars."

She vaguly gestures over my body, "How the hell do you expect me not to tell anyone about that? We could have him behind bars in an instant"

"BECAUSE I CAN'T FACE HIM AGAIN!"

My shout seemed to take Lynn aback, as a look of confusion overcomes her features.

"You are right Lynn" I say with a little sigh, "if you tell someone about this, about 'him', then he would definetly be arrested."

"Then why don't you want to tell anyone? This could be your shot at a normal life." Lynn asks, titling her head in a questioning manner.

"You saw how I reacted to just hearing the mans name Lynn, do you think I would be able to face him after a reaction like that?" I look off to the side before continuing, "If they arrest him on our accusations, then there will be a trail and everything, a trail where I would be expected to testify against him. Now do you honestly believe after what you just saw that I would be able to do that?"

Bringing my eyes back to Lynn, I see that an internal war had broken out within her, It was as if she was fighting with herself on what she wanted to do next. After a couple of seconds of Lynn debating with herself, she lets out a loud exhale before turning and punching the nearby support beam beside the stairs leading up to the rest of the family.

"Fine, I.. I will keep it a secret for now Linc." She mutters out quietly, so quiet that I almost miss it.

I feel huge amount of relief flow through my body, allowing an involentary sigh to escape from my lips.

"BUT," Lynn says, inturrupting my momentary respite, "I will be telling Luna and Luan about this and you are going to be there with me when I do. Maybe the three of us can come up with a plan to help you out"

That does not sound like something I want to do, but it's not like I am going to argue against it, I have already got her to agree to one huge thing, I don't think I will be able to convience her not to tell the other two about this.

"Also, if you even think for a second that I am letting you return to the streets than you got another thing coming," Lynn finally turns to around to face me again before continuing on, "you are staying here until we figure something out, even if I have to hide you under my bed to do so."

Okay, that seems like a little to much, but the look on her face tells me that this is non-neogtioable so once again I am not even going to try to talk her out of the idea of keeping under her bed, like some toy or something.

Just as I am about to say something else, a shout from upstairs makes it's way down to the two of us in the basement.

"LOUDS ASSEMBLE... AGAIN!"

Making it out to be the father, I glance at Lynn who looks like she wants to continue the conversation taking place but in the end just slumps her shoulders and takes a step towards me.

"Come on Linc, we probably should go up and see what that is about," Lynn extends her hand out towards me, and to my surprise I find myself taking it without hesitation. The ease in which I took her hand even seems to catch her off guard for a few seconds before she regains her composure and begins to lead the both of us up and out of the basement.

Exiting the basement, I spot nearly all the Loud girls sitting on the couch with the only exception being Lori who was standing off to the side of the room. She instantly locks her eyes onto me and Lynn as we enter the room, giving us a confused look before trailing her gaze down to our connected hands.

She raises one of her eyebrows at the little display before looking up to glare at me, a promise in her eye saying that the conversation we were having before I ran off to the basement was far from over.

Ignoring her, I turn to look at the two Loud parents who were waiting in front of the couch and coffee table, facing all of their children and give them my attention whilst I walk. Lynn leads us to standing just behind the couch and the rest of the girls before she also gives her parents her attention.

"Well girls, I think you all have done a great job with getting the Loud home ready for the christmas holiday," Lynn .Sr says to all of his kids, "It almost enough to make me cry."

As the man brings a hand up to wipe a tear away from his eyes, his wife continues on where he left off.

"Such a good job, that we thought all you kids deserve a break, so we have decided to take you all to the Royal Woods ch-"

"CHRISTMAS MARKET!" Once again the blonde haired woman is cut off by her overly enthuseastic husband who shouts loudly, extending his arms outwards as he does.

The Royal Woods christmas market was an event that is held every year in the city, it is usually jam-packed with many different things for people to do, such as skating at the Ice-rink to shopping at the many the stalls that are set up there, It is also the place where the citys' christmas lights are turned on.

I strangely never have been to the christmas market during my time on the streets, I was always busy doing something else at the time that it is usually on, so I really don't have any first hand experience with the event myself.

"So why don't all you girls head out to the car." Mrs Loud says while heading over to a nearby coat rack that had heaps of jackets of all different sizes and colours hanging on it, "But first put on your coats, I don't want any of you to catch a cold out there, we all know what happens when one of you does get sick."

A murmur of agreement sweeps the room and I can't help but turn to look at Lynn for an explination but she just shakes her head in response, "trust me, you don't want to know."

"Lincoln," Hearing my name, Lynn instantly lets go of my hand which leaves me oddly dissapointed for some reason, having no time to dwell on the emotion, I look to the right to see looking at me with some confusion, "No luck finding the box in the basement?"

Box? Oh shit, I completey forgot why I went to the basement in the first place, and I also forgot that I accidently smashed the box full of fragile decrations when I dropped it after hearing 'his'name.

"Uh, no dad, I went to help him find it and well it wasn't there, you might have left it in the attic." Lynn qucikly lies for me, not very convincly I might add but it seems to do the trick as the man slowly nods to himself.

"Hmm, I could have sworn I got all the boxes out of the attic and that one wasn't there, but maybe I am mistaken," He says to himself before shrugging his shoulders, "Ah, no use thinking about it now, why don't you and Lincoln head out to the car, we should be going soon."

Following Lynns lead out the front door, we run into both Luna and Luan who were waiting outside on the front porch presumably for the two of us to come out.

"Great, just the two people I wanted to see," Is what Lynn says as a greeting to the two of them, striding a couple of steps a head of me as she does, "Lincoln and I have something to tell the both of you, isn't that right Linc."

I reluctantly nod my head at what she said, before lowering my my gaze to look down at my feet.

"Well it's about time!" I hear Luan exclaim, "you have been dancing around him for what seems like we-"

"NOT THAT LUAN," Lynn shouts out, making me look back up in confusion, what does Luan mean by "dancing around him"?, "It's actually about his situation.."

"OH, oops, sorry I thought you meant that you finally got the cour-" Luan starts to say only to be stop by Luna who pinches her side, whilst giving her a wierd look.

"What do you mean about Lincolns situation dudes?" She asks, taking her eyes of off Luan who was now rubbing the place she was pinched while wincing in pain and mumbling about how Luna was a bit "nippy" today.

"We can't talk it about it now, it is kind of sensistive" Lynn says while shooting Luan a quick glare.

"How's about a meeting tonight?" Luna proposes, "when we get back form the christmas market, in our room?"

"That's perfect," Lynn exclaims in reponse.

"Great, now that is done we should probablty get in the van before Dad finds use standing out here -ike icicles." Luan says while gesturing to all of us.

Why the hell did she say like without the L?

"'-ike'? Don't you mean 'Like' dude?" Luna asks what I was thinking only for Luan to grin like a maniac.

"Luna, you should know that the christmas alphabet has no-el; HO, HO, HO," Luan luaghs while bringing out her hand held tally counter and giving it a quick click, "two down, only ten more to go."

With that she leaves, trudging her way towards the large vehicle parked in the drive way, with all of us swiftly following her lead.

As I walk, all I can think about is how much I am not looking forward to the meeting that is planned for tonight. Going down memory lane was though the first time I had to do it, but now I have to do it again in front of two other people.

Tonight is going to suck big time.

* * *

If I could describe the drive to where the christmas market is taking place in one word, it would have to be loud, the family really do live up to their second name.

All the way there, the sisters found the smallest trivial things to argue over, such as Luna playing her music to loudly or Luan trying to set up a joke every two minutes.

You would think that the parents would step in to break up these arguments but it is as if there is some invisble forcefield between the back of the van and the front, as both of them seemed more pre-occuppied with either singing along to the radio or writing in an extremely large book that had post it notes hanging out of the sides.

Thats is why as soon as the Van pulled up to park just outside the christmas market entrance, I was one of the very first to get out of the van, almost tripping over my own two feet with how fast I tried to exit.

I wait patiently for the rest of them to file out behind me, before I make my way towards the trio of girls that know way to much about me once they themselves finally gets out of the blue and white monstrosity of a vehicle.

"Ever been to the Royal Woods christmas market before Linc?" Luna asks me as I reach where they where standing.

"No, this is my first time, I never really had a reason to visit before." I respond while turning to get a proper look at the market ahead.

It was set up in a park that for some reason was very familiar to me, but I can't put on my finger on just why that was. Set up around the area was many different stalls that were in random spots around the large open area, with many people weaving in and out of them laughing and talking as they do.

Looking past all of that, I spot huge ice-rink that was set up in the middle of the park that had many people skating around in circles on the inside with just as many people watching them from the outside.

The smell of food wafts out of the park, making my stomach growl slightly at how good it all smelt, making kind of regret not finishing that zombie bran cereal I had got myself for breakfast.

Shaking my head, I look up at the many un-lit christmas lights that where hanging overhead, littered around in various trees that all connect to one and other, almost like it was a large spider web, waiting to be turned on during the light up ceremoney that will be taking place later today.

"It... it looks nice" I find myself saying while glancing at the the three girls beside me.

"Yeah, it is pretty co-" As Luna was responding to what I had said, she is suddenly tackled from the side and almost knocked to the ground by a blonde haired girl.

"Hey Lunes," the girl says while giving Luna a tight hug, before taking a step back, "I didn't know you where going to be here."

"Neither did I, until a few hours ago." Luna reponds with a little laugh.

Getting a better look at the girl now that I can, I take in her appearence. She was wearing a short teal leather jacket which underneath there was a white T-shirt with what I can only make out to be an archey target on it . She was also wearing a pair of deep burgundy jeans that were ripped at the knees alongside a pair of dark purple boots.

"Hey Lynn, hey Luan," The blonde haired teen greets the other girls before her eyes land on me, "and who is this?"

"Oh, sorry dude, I totally forgot to introduce you two." Luna says while walking over to me.

"Lincoln, this is Sam Sharp... she is my... girlfriend."


	15. Little Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All these little lies add up..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! it's MutedBadger here and well.. I'M ALIVE!
> 
> Yeah, I kind of took unannounced hiatus there for a couple of months but I'm back with the very first chapter of 'One Good Deed' of the new year!
> 
> I think you guys have waited long enough, so let's get on with the chapter!

"Lincoln, this is Sam Sharp..., she is my... girlfriend."

Striking a silly pose at being introduced, the blonde-haired girl gives me a bright smile while throwing out her hand for me to shake, "it's nice to meet you Linc."

"Uh, it's good to meet you to Sam," I reply back as I take her hand into mine to give it a quick shake before letting go and taking a step backward.

Looking to Luna, I see that she was watching the both of us with an anxious expression, her eyes nervously darting back and forth, going from me to Sam then back to me as she wrings her hands together and shuffles her feet.

She was afraid something was about to happen, I could tell, hell anyone in a fifty-foot radius could pick up on the almost palpable nerves that the purple rocker was giving off. The question is what was she nervous about, all she is doing is introducing her girlfri-

Oh... I see, she thinks that I am going to judge her for being in a relationship with another girl, I almost crack a smile at how stupid that very thought is, how can I of all people judge Luna for who she chooses to be with?

On the streets, I have seen time and time again people not give a single damn about who they were getting together with.

Granted some of those people were drug addicts and were doing it for money to supply whatever addiction they had and the others were people like me who were starving and needed money for food, but the general premise was still the same.

The constant cycle of watching people from men to women soliciting their own bodies to anyone of any gender who has enough money in their wallet has left me with one opinion of relationships, as long as the two people in them love each other, then it does not matter what gender they are.

So, I can't judge her for choice in partner even if I wanted to, which I don't, not after what I had seen, not after doing all the things that I did on the street to survive, things that I will never tell anyone.

With that in mind, I shoot Luna a quick smile to put her worries to bed and watch as her whole body becomes much more relaxed, losing the rigid form she had taken, as all the nerves flee her mind.

"You've got some sick hair dude!" I am snapped out of my little thought train by Sam who was staring just above my eye line as she ran her hand through her blonde hair, "How long did it take to dye?"

"Dye? I never dyed my hair before, this is my natural colour," I explain to her while looking off to side feeling embarrassed. I never really put much thought into my hair colour and how weird it actually was, I don't know many other eleven-year-olds who have 'snow on the roof' as some people used to put it.

I guess it is just another reminder of how different I am from everyone else, a reminder that no matter how hard I try I can never really be truly normal, that I will always be a homeless fre-

"WHAT?" The loud exclamation catches me off guard as Sam suddenly shoots her arms out wide, "Dude that is so awesome, you were actually born with white hair? "

"Uh yeah? When I came out I had this little tuft of hair here," I respond to her while pointing to the cluster of hair at the back of my head which I knew was standing up, as it has ever since I was born.

Back in the orphanage, I used to have a picture of my mom holding me as a baby just minutes after I was born, I don't remember much of the specifics of that photo due to them being lost in the haziness that are long term memories, but there are two details of the particular image that I could never forget.

The first was my snow-white hair that stood out like a sore thumb against the blue sheets of the hospital bed in the room and the second being my mother's smile as she looked down at me for what could have been the first time. A smile that I knew lit up whatever room she happened to be in, a smile that turned a bad day into a good one... a smile that I got the chance to see so little of.

"My parents gave me some ridiculous nicknames because of it, like snowball or snowflake," My eyes widen in shock as the words leave my mouth with me not even knowing why or how I let something like that slip, I guess I was just getting lost down memory lane and let my guard lower just enough for it to come out.

"Aw, that is so cute," Sam says with a little laugh, "I bet you are probably sick of hearing those."

I could feel my face fall ever so slightly at her words. No, I am not sick of hearing those names, in fact, I would give anything in the world just to hear my mother or father call me 'snowball' just one more time.

Feeling a hand being placed on my shoulder, I turn to see Lynn looking at me with an "are you alright?" look in her eyes, her hand once again grounding me back in reality before I could lose myself to the dark thoughts that I could feel were about to come.

Giving her a quick nod of reassurance, I shift my gaze back to Sam who was now giving me a confused stare as I shove my hands into my jacket pockets, "Yeah... I am so... sick of it."

"So uh Sam, have you seen any cool stalls around here?" Luna asks while stepping into the conversation, probably trying her best to break the tension that had suddenly filled the air between us.

"Nah, I haven't been here that long, only about ten minutes or so before I literally ran into you." Sam says while turning to look at Luna, giving the rocker a quick shake of her head, "I was actually quite bored, but now that you are here, you can be bored with me as we both go look for something to do."

Sam suddenly latches herself on to Luna's arm who's face morphs into a grin at what the blonde-haired girl said before she begins to pull her in the direction of where all the stalls were scattered about.

They take a couple of steps forwards before Luna throws us a look over her shoulder and asks, "are any of you dudes coming with?"

"Well, If you don't mind me being in your 'presents'," Luan jokes quickly as she begins to follow the two retreating forms of Luna and Sam while bringing out her tally counter and giving it a quick click.

"Luan if you are coming then no puns," I hear Luna exclaim from where she was, probably not willing to put up with the comedians jokes for the whole time she is here.

"What? You don't like my holiday puns? That's a little 'Rude-olph' of you, HO-HO-HO" Is Luans reply as she laughs loudly and once again gives the tally counter a click.

I don't get to hear Luna's response as the three of them disappear into the crowd just leaving me standing here with Lynn.

"Well, I guess that just leaves me and you," I say while turning to look at her "so what do you want to do?"

"Actually Linc, I have something I need to take care of by myself," Lynn tells me as she slowly backs away, "I promise you it won't take that long, I just need to get this one thing."

I was about to protest her leaving me here all alone but before I could utter a single word she abruptly turns around and swiftly makes her way deeper into the market, leaving me to eat her dust as she did.

This left me standing all by myself in the middle of the entrance, alone...

As I stand here I suddenly come to a realization, and that was the fact that this is the first time in days that I have actually been in the company of absolutely no one.

I know it sounds bad but these past couple of days have been absolutely grueling on me, not in a physical sense, even though I do feel sick but in more of an emotional one.

These girls are trying their damn best to extract my hidden past out of me bit by bit, and as much as I hate to admit it, they are doing a great job at it, hell Lynn has even found out about 'him' and is getting me to spill it to the other two later tonight.

The constant bombardment of questions has been draining on me mentally, as I try my best to lie in some places while dealing with the awful true memories that they drag out of me in others.

So It might be nice to enjoy the silence that has fallen onto my lap for however long it takes for the trio of loud girls to once again decide to descend on me like a pack of ravenous wolfs.

With that nice thought, I take a single step forward into the market, ready to enjoy sometime alon-

"Lincoln."

I physically have to stop myself from catapulting five feet into the air as a voice suddenly speaks from behind me. Just from the sound of it alone, I could tell it was Lucy, and as I turn to look at the person, I see that my assumption was correct because standing just behind me wrap up in a dark coat was the young goth.

"Sigh, I have been standing here the whole time," She had? Man, this girl must have some spooky ability to just blend into any background and go unnoticed, "the rest of them paired up and ran off without me as soon as the van doors opened."

As Lucy speaks, she stuffs her hands into her pockets and gives the ground a soft kick.

Looking away from her, I scan the surrounding area for any sign of any one of her sisters, but I only spot random people who are coming in and out of the market.

Glancing back at Lucy, I decide that I probably shouldn't leave her here by herself, something bad could happen, so I offer out my hand for her take while asking , "Say, Lucy.. would you like to come with me and see what this place has to offer?"

My outstretched arm hangs in the air for a couple of quiet seconds, and I was just about to retract it when, to my surprise, Lucy suddenly plants her gloved hand into my open palm and wraps her fingers around mine.

Giving her a brief smile, I begin to lead us into the market following in the footsteps of the other three girls, pulling Lucy behind me.

As we make our way deeper into the place, my nose is suddenly assaulted by the overwhelmingly strong smell of food that seemed to permeate throughout the air reminding me once again of how hungry I am at the moment.

"Are you hungry Lincoln?" I hear Lucy ask from beside me while letting go of my hand.

"What? Me? hungry? No," I quickly say to her while bringing my newly freed hand up to rub the back of my neck, "I had that bowl of cereal earlier tod-"

Turning to face Lucy, I am greeted by the surprising sight of thin air where the dark girl should be standing. I stand there stunned for a few seconds before a little bit of panic rushes through me as I rapidly look left and right to see if I could catch sight of where Lucy had gone.

How is she this good at slipping away?

A couple more seconds pass of me looking for her, a task I knew would be hard as rocks as her outfit made her perfectly blend into the shadows that were being cast by the setting sun in the distance.

I guess I am just going to have to search each stall indi-

"Sigh, here take this."

This time I had no such luck in stopping myself jumping into the air with a little yelp at the sound of the monotone voice that somehow appeared behind me.

"Lucy! We just talked about this," I exclaim to her while turning to face the direction she materialized out of once I was firmly on my feet again.

Peering at her, I see that she was holding two large pretzels in her arms, one of which was swiftly pushed into my hands, "Luce I can't take this off of you."

"You already have."

I open my mouth to argue my point but hardly get the chance to do so as Lucy spins on her heel and begins to walk away from me, leaving the words to die in my throat. Shaking my head, I take a bite of the admittedly tasty pretzel and break into a light jog to catch up with her.

The two of us walk in silence, taking occasional bites out of the warm pastry in our hands, enjoying the soft murmur of the many voices around us which engulfed both of us like a warm blanket.

With each step taken, I could feel my eyes begin to mindlessly scan the crowd, not really looking for anything in particular. As I was looking around, I catch sight of some familiar blonde hair belonging to a certain Loud sister who seemed to have it out for me.

She looked to be having a conversation with Lola about something and whatever it was appeared to be going in Lola's favour as the young girl holds out her hand and waits for money to be deposited into it.

I wonder what that could be abo-

"Sigh, you are about to walk into a wall Lincoln," I hear Lucy say from beside me making my head snap back to looking towards where I was going, which was right into a waist-high wall.

The crash into said wall was about as eventful as walking into a waist-high wall at low speed could be, which was not at all, the most exciting thing to happen was that my half-eaten pretzel almost slips out of my grasp.

Taking a few seconds to get a good grip on my pretzel once again, I find myself peering over the wall right into the ice rink that I saw from the entrance.

"What were you looking at Linc ?" Lucy's voice draws my attention away from the people who were skating passed at the moment of my crash.

"Oh uh nothing," I say while going to take another bite of the food in my hands.

Lucy was quiet for a few seconds before she tilts her head to the right and sighs for real this time, "You do that a lot."

The words catch me off guard, "Do what exactly?" I ask her, feeling my eyebrows furrow in confusion.

Turning her back to the wall, Lucy leans up against it and drops her hands to her sides while letting go of her pretzel, allowing it to drop to the ground before mumbling out, "Lie... ever since we have met, you have lied in nearly every conversation you had with anyone of us. "

Any words that I could say escape me as I am left dumbstruck by what she was saying, how does she know I have been lying practically all this time? "I don't know what you mean Lucy."

"Lincoln, all my life I have fallen into the background of any situation, becoming part of the furniture of any room I stand in, always forgotten by my sisters in one way or another," Lucy says while staring straight ahead, showing little to no emotion, "it has allowed me to watch people without them even realizing that I am there, making me good at picking up little things that people give off, things they give off when they lie for instance and you give off a lot of them"

"No, I don't," I exclaim quickly, defending myself while standing up straighter and putting on my best poker face.

"Sigh, yes you do," Lucy declares like it was a fact, "When you lie you stammer and pause a lot, you also rub the back of your neck with your hand and your voice gets higher."

"Lucy I have not once lied to you," I say to her while doing my best not to do any of the things she just mentioned and watch as she stands there silently for a few seconds before she wraps her arms around herself.

"What's your second name.." The words were spoken so quietly that I almost missed them.

"My second name, what's that have to do with anythi-?" I try to ask her, but I am cut off by the dark-haired girl who stands up off of the wall and looks directly towards me.

"Just tell me your second name Lincoln," She asserts with some force behind her words and I find myself taking a step back at them.

"Smith, my second name is smith," blurting out the first name that comes to mind, I feel my hands ball into fists and wince as my fingernails dig themselves deep into the skin of my palms.

"Rockstin! When you first met us you told us your second name was Rockstin!" Lucy exclaims monotonously, "you lied about coming back to visit after you helped me with my poems, you lied about your sick grandparents and you lied about who you really are."

The silence that followed her rant seemed to stretch out and fill the air between us, almost as if it had become a solid wall with any noise from the outside world failing to pierce the soundless void that had formed leaving it to be broken by one of the two of us.

"I just want to know why you are lying and why you felt like you could tell Luna, Luan, and Lynn but not the rest of us." In the end, it was Lucy who spoke first, probably knowing that I would never be the one to break the silence that festered in the air.

Hearing her words, I take another step back in shock, how does she know that I told those three about what I am keeping secret from the rest of them.

"Ho-w do y-ou know that I told them something?" I say with a quiver in my voice.

"I have noticed how they act differently around you ever since you had that conversation on the park bench a couple of days ago," Lucy explains, "They look at you with more concern in their eyes since that day, so you must have told them the truth that you are keeping from the rest of us or at least some of it."

"I-I- " I stumble over my words, trying my best to put up any form of defence and failing miserably in doing so.

"It had to be something bad or the others would have told the rest of us by now at one of our sibling' meetings," Lucy states, her face still holding a stony expression, "I want to know too, I want to help you with whatever it is that makes Luna and Luan look at you like that, what makes Lynn glance at you every five minutes to make sure you are OK."

"She doesn't glance at me every five minutes," I say incredulously feeling my nails dig even further into my palms.

"52," The girl in black responds quickly, "that is how many times she looked at you out of the corner of her eye on the drive over here."

"How do you know that?" I ask her, trying my best to think back to the car ride over here to see if I could remember if she did look at me that many times but all I could recall was the constant bickering between Lana and Lola who were sitting behind me.

"I told you Lincoln, I pick up on these things," Lucy affirms her earlier point before shaking her head, "but that doesn't matter, what does matter is you telling me what you are hiding."

"I can't tell you Lucy, no more of you can find out, it could make it harder for me when I finally lea- " I instantly slam my mouth shut and I could feel my eyes widen in shock at what I nearly just said to her.

"When you what?"Lucy quietly asks, her jaw clenching as she does, "when you finally leave us?"

"Lucy no! I would never do that, I'm not planning on leaving," I say rapidly, doing my best to cover over what I almost said, knowing full well that there was little chance that Lucy was going to believe me.

Lucy lowers her head, allowing her dark black hair to fall over her face preventing any chance I had in reading any expression she might have at the moment, not that there was much chance of that happening in the first place.

I was just about to start talking when I hear her quietly whisper something, "another lie."

It was so soft that I almost didn't hear it, nearly losing what she said to the background noise provided by the abundance of people around us.

"Lucy I..."

"LINCOLN!" Any chance I had to respond to her was stripped away from me as a loud shout makes me instinctively look over my shoulder to spot a quickly approaching Lynn who had a bag in her hands with god only knows what inside of it.

"What are you doing over here by yourself?" Is the first thing Lynn says to me as she reaches where I am standing.

"By myself? I'm not by mysel-" Turning back to look at where Lucy was standing I stop speaking as once again the goth had disappeared into the market crowds. "Oh... I was just checking out the ice rink."

"Ok..?" Lynn with some uncertainty before she just shrugs her shoulders and gives me a mischievous grin, "Well, why are you watching them skate when you can skate yourself?"

Before I could react to what Lynn had said I find my hand suddenly being grabbed by her, "Woah, Lynn there is no way I am going ice-skating, I don't even know how to skate."

"Well I guess it is a good thing that I can!" Lynn happily exclaims while beginning to pull me in the direction of where the skates were being given out.

I wanted to argue with her more, I really did but my mind was too preoccupied with the conversation I just had with Lucy. I hope she doesn't tell the others that I plan on leaving because if she does, then Lynn will definitely spill my secret to the rest of her family, even her parents.

That could lead me back to 'him'... and I can't let that happen, no matter what...

No matter what.


	16. Double-Edged Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody it's MutedBadger back with another chapter of 'One Good Deed'!
> 
> Well I have been gone a long time, haven't I? Yeah, I think these last few months have thought me that life comes at you hard when you least expected. I won't go into details but I will say that I have had very little free time to write anything, so that's why there was a lack of updates, this was only finished due to me getting some extended time off work.

* * *

I always loved the night sky, the way the inky canvas stretched out to envelop everything it touched only to be broken up by specks of lights that were distant stars somehow always provided me with an odd sense of calmness.

I have spent many countless nights on the streets just gazing up into the night sky, watching as the silvery moon slowly strode its way across the starry heavens as I count and re-count each bright star that hung in the dark abyss with the hopes of finding myself in a peaceful slumber.

It was always a challenge to push aside the dark thoughts that almost constantly corrupted my mind, but the pitch-black sky consistently provided me with a momentary distraction from the outside world, it helped me feel alone.

It allowed me to shed the tears that would gather at the corner of my eyes late at night when no one was around without feeling like I was a weak person, tears that were nothing more than temporary cleaners that washed the pain that was my existence for a brief blissful moment.

But as I said before it was just a momentary distraction from everything, like it was now, distracting me from the problems I face with a certain Loud sister who shares a lot of similarities with the sky I gaze upon.

Lucy knows that I plan on leaving when the wound in my shoulder heals and the slight cold I have cleared up, how she was able to find out about my plan beats me but that doesn't matter now.

What does matter is what the young girl decides to do with the information she was somehow able to learn and in all honesty, there isn't much she could do with it.

Lucy only really has one option, which was to tell her other sisters about my plan to leave, the mere thought of which shoots tendrils of fear throughout my body. If she did tell Luan, Luna, and Lynn my secret It could lead to anyone of them deciding to contact child protective services against my will.

I only had one hope in this situation and that was the tiny possibility of Lucy feeling like telling her sisters the truth could lead to me leaving sooner than I plan to. The slight chance that I would take flight could be just enough of a reason to dissuade Lucy from outright telling them straight away, she may even try to convince me to stay by herself.

"You know Lincoln, the whole point of ice skating is to actually skate."

The sudden voice snaps me out of my train of thought causing me to drag my eyes away from the beautiful sky above to see Lynn standing over me with her hands on her hips and a small smile on her face.

As soon as both of our skates hit the ice, Lynn shot off in a straight line while throwing in some flawless mid-air twists and spins as she did. I, however, did nothing even close to that as I made it around two feet out into the ice rink before falling flat on my ass.

That is where I found myself for the next few minutes, simply lying down on the ice as I contemplate the best course of action to take with Lucy and what she knows.

"Yeah I know, but I think I have the ice part of it down," I respond to Lynn whilst giving the ground beside me a little tap.

"Come on, let's get you up before you catch something worse than the cold you already have," Lynn says, offering out her hand and waiting for me to take it.

Putting my palm into hers, trying not to think about how easy it is for me to do that, Lynn immediately pulls me to my feet before swiftly grabbing onto my shoulders to stop me from falling straight back down onto the ice.

"Whoa there Bambi try not to lean too far back," the sporty girl helpfully supplies as she drags my arms forward, pulling my weight along with them, "now bend your knees and keep your arms out in front of you."

Taking the position Lynn was describing, I immediately feel more steady on my feet, "Huh, this is easier than I thought."

"Well since it's so easy, lets getting moving," Lynn says with a sly grin, never giving me the chance to protest as she slowly begins to pull me along, doing her best to keep me upright.

We continue on like this, hand in hand as we slowly make our way around the rink, avoiding all the more experienced skaters as we went along, with Lynn laughing at each time I nearly slip and fall.

Getting about half-way around the oval of ice, Lynn's sly grin transforms into a full-blown smile as she lets go of my hand and skates a few feet away, spinning in a circle to face me and saying, "I think you are about ready Lincoln, skate over here!"

"Uh, I really don't think I can," I say nervously while trying not to move a single muscle, not wanting to fall back down on to the Ice.

"Come on Lincoln, it's easy!" Lynn exclaims, throwing in a quick spin to back up what she said, "Just take some small steps and before you know it you will be gliding over here."

Taking a few seconds to build up some courage, I put my right foot in front of me, doing my best to keep my balance. It didn't take long for me to pick up some speed as I find myself barrelling towards Lynn.

"Uh Lincoln, you might want to slow down a litt-" Lynn didn't get a chance to finish what she was saying as I unceremoniously crash into her.

To my surprise, the two of us don't fall to our icy doom as Lynn's strong arms wrap around me preventing the two of us from going down. Looking up I see that our faces were mere inches away from each other, causing my cheeks to become oddly warm.

"Next time, I think we should start by learning how to stop," Was all Lynn said, not bothering to move out of the awkward position we found ourselves in.

"Yeah, I think that is probably for the best," I mumble back, trying my best not to lose myself in her dark brown eyes that seem to be piercing their way into my soul.

We just remain like that, staring at each other for what felt like an eternity but couldn't be more than a few seconds in reality.

The dark brown in Lynn's eyes that were marred with flecks of lighter hues reminded me of old barn doors, which when I thought about it was kind of fitting. Barn doors were strong but stilled opened to allow the world to see inside, much like Lynn herself.

"I hate to break up whatever is happening here but dad said to get everyone gathered for the light's ceremony."

The new voice ends the moment in an instant causing Lynn to let go of my frame, allowing me to drop to the ice once again.

Looking up from where I landed I see that it was Lola who had broken mine and Lynn's little staring contest, the young girl was giving Lynn a little grin while her eyes move between me and her jersey-wearing sister.

"Nothing is going on here Lola," Lynn loudly says, throwing up her hands as she did, "I was just teaching Lincoln how to properly skate."

"Sure Lynn, just teaching him how to skate," Lola replies trying her best to repress a laugh that threatens to burst forth.

Lynn just lets out a little huff before crossing her arms and looking down at me, "Come on Linc, let's go to the ceremony."

Climbing to my feet by myself this time, I watch as Lola's eyes stray back and forth between Lynn and me, the grin on her face somehow getting even larger than before.

"Are you just going to stand there all day and stare at us or are we actually going to the ceremony?" Lynn says with some annoyance in her voice as she pushes her way past Lola and makes her way swiftly to the ice rink exit.

Lola just lets a little giggle slip out at the display before beginning to follow in Lynn's footsteps and making her own way out.

Deciding that it is probably best for me to follow them, I put one foot out in front of the other before instantly realizing something,

"Um guys, I still don't know how to skate properly!"

* * *

"-rough my successes of the year and as Christmas draws closer you can feel the spirit of the city become mo-"

You know, It was at times like this that I wished I was able to afford a watch.

It feels like an eternity had passed ever since the mayor of Royal Woods had taken her position on the stage and with each second that went by, I could feel the boredom sink its way deeper into my bones.

When we had first arrived at the area the light ceremony was taking place in, I was shocked by just how many people were gathered in the space in front of the stage. The crowd was packed together like sardines from end to end as each and every one of them attempted to get a better spot to view the main stage from.

Just as I was thinking about how it would almost impossible to find the rest of the Loud family in a crowd like that, Lynn began to plough her way through the mass of people, knocking over anyone unlucky enough to be in her way with stunning strength.

And to my surprise, it actually didn't take us that long to find the family in the horde of bodies that had formed, coming across them gathered near the front.

Dragging my eyes away from the mayor, I take a quick glance at the Loud family that stood around me, noticing that a lot of them seem to be in the same situation as I was with boredom written all over the faces.

As I look around, I eventually lock my gaze on to Lucy who was standing slightly off to the side staring at me, and even though I couldn't see them, I could still feel her eyes piercing their way through the thin veil of hair that was constantly preventing me from reading any expression she may have.

I could feel myself wilting under her gaze, the girl having some kind of special ability to make me feel like my skin was crawling as if there were hundreds of tiny spiders running rampant across my whole body.

"Hey Lincoln, could I talk to you really quick?" just as I was about to take a step out of the dark-haired girl's eye line, I hear Lynn's voice speak up from behind me.

Quickly turning around to face her, I immediately become concerned as I spot a nervous expression stretched out across her face, "Uh, yeah sure."

"Alone?" Lynn asks while taking a quick glance at her sisters that were standing slightly behind me and giving her head a quick shake.

Shooting a look back at Luna and Luan who were a couple of feet away from me, I see the two of them have taken their eyes off the stage and were giving a thumbs up in the direction of Lynn before quickly trying to hide the action.

Looking to Lynn once more, I give her a reassuring nod before letting her lead me out of the tightly packed crowd to find a more secluded spot to have whatever conversation she wanted.

As we push our way to the edge of the gathering, I notice that Lynn once again had a bag in her hands, the very same one she had when she accidentally interrupted mine and Lucy's awkward conversation back at the skating rink.

Once we get past the crowd we somehow luckily managed to find a tree with no one underneath it not too far from the stage.

"Look Lincoln, I have been thinking about what you told me in the basement all day" Lynn starts the conversation off slow, not making eye contact with me, "and I am not going to lie to you, it has taken nearly all of my will power not to tell my parents about it."

She pauses for a brief second, clenching her eyes shut as she gathers herself for what she is about to say.

"I am trying to be strong for you but I'm really scared," the words looked like they physically hurt her to say, her eyes scrunching close only to be followed by a long breath, "I'm so scared about him finding you, I'm scared about you getting hurt, and I'm scared that you will leave without telling us."

Any words I have leave me, I am left dumbstruck as I stared into her brown eyes that were alight with emotion and my mind falls silent. I try to move my lips to help rid her of some of the worries she has, but they remain frozen.

"I'm scared Linc and the only way I know that can really help you is telling my parents."

"The-n why haven't you?" I cautiously ask, wrapping my arms around myself.

Lynn casts her gaze to the ground at my question, almost as if she was searching for an answer that was somehow written into the dirt we were standing on, "I don't know, I think it may be because I... I..."

The words die in the back of her throat before she suddenly lifts her face up to look at me. The resolve I see in her eyes surprises me and I can't help but take a step back.

"Because I li-"

"10!"

A few feet away from us, the crowd begins what I can only assume was the count down to the turning on of the Christmas lights, interrupting Lynn as they do.

"9!"

"Lincoln back in the basement you said you lost the necklace your parents had got you," Lynn says with a disappointed look on her face while shaking her head, ignoring the crowd altogether.

"8!"

"Yeah, I lost it a while back," I respond being careful not to actually tell her how I lost it, not wanting to have that conversation with her.

"7!"

"Well, that is why I got you this," At her words, Lynn produces a small box from the bag that she was carrying around with her all this time.

"6!"

I look at the box with a questioning look before asking, "Lynn what is this?"

"5!"

Not responding to my question, the sporty Loud slowly opens the box revealing a silver necklace in the shape of an L inside.

"4!"

I could only stare at the piece of jewelry that the Loud girl had bought for me, so many emotions rising up from inside me that I was prevented from forming a proper sentence. "L-ynn I-I.."

"3!"

"I know it's dumb to think that this necklace could ever hold the same meaning that the other one held but I wanted to get you one," Lynn says while lowering her eyes to the ground.

"2!"

Lynn was right the necklace could never hold the same meaning that the old one had, but that didn't mean that this one couldn't hold a new one.

With that thought, I immediately pull Lynn into a sudden hug that totally catches her off guard just as the crowd finishes counting.

"1!"

Above us, the lights in the tree burst to life bathing us in a flickering red and green glow that spreads an almost magical feel into the air.

"Thank you, Lynn," I simply say not bothering to release the girl from the hug I had her in, "thank you for everything."

We remain in like that for a while, as one by one the lights above us turn on, each one adding to the warm atmosphere that filled the surrounding air. I don't think I have ever felt so alive and loved in all my life, I don't want this to end, I wished I could live in this moment forever.

This was without a doubt the best day of my life.

* * *

This might be one of the worst days of my life, I thought to myself from where I was sitting on the bottom bunk of Luna's and Luan's bed.

As soon as the light-up ceremony was done, the Loud family had decided to call it quits for the night and head home with all the stuff that they bought during their family outing. The whole ride home I could feel the nervous energy swelling up from the depths as with each mile closer to the Loud residence was a mile closer to having to tell two more sisters about him.

The only thing stopping me from totally freaking out was Lynn's presence in the seat beside me, which once again acted like a rock that grounded me to the real world.

As soon as we arrived back at the house, we wait a few minutes to let the other family memebers to settle in before I was swiftly pulled up the stairs to the older girl's room as the sisters didn't want to waste any time in hearing the important information I had for them.

Information, in all honesty, I did not want to share with them.

Telling Lynn had been a really painful experience for me as I had to relive through some of the most gruesome memories that 'He' did to me, memories that I tried so hard to bury in the darkest, deepest pit in my mind.

But here I was, once again about to dig up the old scars and horrors to put on a show for not just another person but for two.

"So, what's this thing Lynn said you had to tell us about?" I hear Luna asks, bringing me back to the real world.

Dragging my eyes away from the wall that I was staring at, I look at the rocker who was spread out on a purple bean bag strumming away on a guitar that was slightly out of tune.

"Well, it is something about m-my situation," I say slowly not having the courage to dive right in and tell them about 'him' straight away.

"Well it must be something big," Luan chimes in making me glance over to where she was sitting, which was in a weird jester chair that she for some reason owned "I don't think I have ever seen Lynn so tense before."

Luan was right about Lynn being tense, I had noticed it too, she had barely moved from the spot she made for herself on one of the many dressers in the room. The muscles in her body were as hard as stone causing her to take a rigid sitting position with her jaw clenched shut, probably preparing herself for hearing about 'him' for a second time.

A silence fills the room, and all eyes suddenly turn to me, probably waiting for me to begin the recounting of what was the sad story of my past.

"I lied to you two," I force the words out of my mouth after a few seconds of internal struggle, knowing that if I don't start simple I won't be able to get through this at all, "back on the park bench."

"What? You lied to us again dude?" Luna asks with some hurt in her voice sitting up straighter as she does.

"Yeah I did," I quietly respond, lowering my eyes down to the carpeted floor beneath me as if it suddenly became the most interesting thing in the world.

"I can't believe it, dude! I thought you trusted us," Luna continues on, "we trusted you enough to let you stay here."

The sheer amount of betrayal in her voice cuts into me like the sharp side of a knife and I am left to cringe in pain.

"So what did you lie about this time then?" The question comes from Luan who was leaning forward on her chair, making it hard for me not to notice the extra emphasis she put on the words 'this time'.

"Something bad, something really bad," I respond, doing my best to keep my voice devoid of all the emotions that were on the cusp of bursting forth.

The silence in the room caressed itself against my skin like a cool summer breeze leaving me with nothing but the drumming sound of my own heart doing its best to break free from the cage that was my chest.

"Well then," Luna says with some impatience, "what is it?"

Licking my dry lips, I take another quick glance around the room to see both Luna and Luan leaning eagerly on their seats waiting for the next drop of information to leave my mouth. Lynn on the other hand had taken to jiggling her right leg up and down in what I could only assume was a way to rid herself of the nervousness she must be feeling.

While looking at them I see that their eyes were hungry for what I was trying to keep away from them and I try to do just that. I begin to prepare myself to tell them, digging deep into my mind to drag up the memories of 'him'.

To them, it was just words and terrible stories of my past, but to me, it was experiences, experiences that I never want to relive. Every facet of my being had been shaped about what I went through, everything I am right now is about not wanting to go back to that especially in my mind.

I could feel myself beginning to spiral into my fear as if the floor had opened beneath me and was pulling me in.

I quickly stand up from where I was sitting, avoding a diamond tiara that was for some reason on the floor.

My movement causes a burst of motion from the three girls with them following my lead and shooting up from where they were sitting.

"I need a minute!" I exclaim to no one in particular before rapidly making my way towards the door which leads to the sanctum that was the hall. I make it about halfway to the door when I feel someone grab on to my left hand.

Looking back I see that it was Lynn who was holding on to me, a concerned look painted all over her face.

"Linc, it is ok I'm here," She says softly. only loud enough for me to hear.

"I know, I just need some time to gather myself for talking about him," I tell her while giving her hand a firm squeeze, "please..."

Hearing the desperation in my voice Lynn pauses to think for a few seconds before sighing and letting me go. Nodding my head in thanks, I turn to the door again and swiftly open it.

Looking briefly back, I see that both Luna and Lua have locked their gazes on to Lynn and immediately know that as soon as I step out of the room questions were about to been thrown at Lynn.

Shaking my head I take a step out into the hallway and close the door behind me. Feeling my legs go slightly weak, I lean against the closed door and take a deep breath of the stale air of the hall.

Taking a few more breaths, I get up and decide that the best place for me to gather myself would be the bathroom, it's not like anyone can bother me in there.

Making my ways towards the room, I only make it about halfway when I am stopped by the sound of an opening door. Facing the offender, I feel my heart drop as Lori Loud steps out of her room to block my path with a look on her face that sends shivers down my spine.

"Hey Lori," I greet her as nicely as I can, not needing or wanting to be on the end of her wrath right now, "Is everything ok?"

"Why I'm glad you asked Lincoln, I would say things are good..." Lori answers with a sharp tone to her voice, only to pause before bring out what looks to be a microphone receiver from behind her back,

"But I would also say '_something is bad something is really bad_'."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say I'm sorry to you guys, I mainly use FF.net so I have been kind of ignoring the people over her on a03 but I want to stop doing that.
> 
> So, in the future I will do my best to engage with the people over here!
> 
> Catch you on the flip side - MutedBadger


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